Modeling a detailed chair in maya

i've always had trouble modeling because i usually obsess over the geometry looking clean and edge flow being perfect and end up giving up when it gets to the hard part..i started modeling a victorian musicchair and it has fairly intricate carvings (for my skill level, at least). i'm working on the back right now and am trying to get the basic shape. i was just wondering if it's better to do that, and bring it into zbrush. i have very little experience with zbrush, but i need to learn it anyway. i just don't know the proper workflow for doing stuff like this. if i had to guess, i would model in maya, smooth it a couple times, import into zbrush, sculpt the details, then bring it back to maya for texturing/rendering. i just haven't found anything very helpful in modeling detailed stuff then editing in zbrush.
i plan on making a hi-res scene.


i'd post a pic but apparently i have to post more first