Amazing Trick! Vinyl Decal Stickers And Rustic Wood Surfaces

I'm going to share an AMAZING tip for you!  It has to do with a beautiful rustic wood surface that is quite rough.  Typically vinyl decals or wall stickers do NOT adhere well to these rough surfaces.  BUT...I found a simple step that DOES make them stick quite well.

Here's a Clue:  Mod Podge!!

So allow me to share the full details:  

I started with a unfinished wood sign from Walmart but Amazon also offers these. 

I stained my board using first water and then Dark Walnut Stain.  I like the water brushed on the wood first because...

• it ends up being a bit more rustic, 
• the stain doesn't soak in as quickly and 
• you have a little more time to play with how dark you want the stain to be. 

We show a little bit of the water stain in THIS Blog Post.

After I had my staining done, I sanded the board VERY lightly.  If you thought your stain was too dark, you can certainly sand a little heavier.  Wipe your wood off with a damp cloth before the next step.

NEXT.... I applied a coat of MATTE Mod Podge!  This is the TRICK!! 

The Mod Podge seals up the surface, fills in some of the cracks and crevices from the rustic wood surface.

You can see here how ROUGH this rustic wood sign was:

Allow the Mod Podge to dry fully.  Once it starts drying you can take a closer look for any spots you may have missed.  In certain lights, a missed spot will show.  This is less likely with the MATTE Mod Podge as opposed to the other glossier ones.

Finally, sand the board again after the Mod Podge has fully dried.  This final sanding will make your board go from feeling fuzzy and rough to a nice smooth feel.  This nice smooth feel is the EXACT surface you want to be able to apply Matte finish wall decals easily. Finally wipe the wood sign off with a damp cloth to have a thoroughly clean surface and you are now ready to apply your vinyl decals!  Purchase your favorite quote or wall decal by clicking our logo above.

A Matte finish Wall Decal Sticker comes out looking just like it has been painted on!  A quality wall decal sticker does not have super strong adhesive so that it can be easily removed without harming your wall paint or surface.

Typically a rough surface like this would require A LOT of patience to apply a wall decal or Stencil Sticker too.  This rustic wood sign, once the mod podge was applied and then sanded, ended up being a typical vinyl decal application.

For a typical wall sticker application, you simply follow a few basic things to make decal application easier:

1. Squeegee your decal WELL before beginning to peel off the top tape layer.

2. Peel your transfer tape at a SHARP angle, pressing down with your fingers or squeegee as you peel.

Here's the Final Wood Sign that I am totally in LOVE with!  We used our Rust Orange color for this decal.

Note: As a small compensation for sharing great info, some of the links are affiliate links to Amazon and we may earn a small commission if you click our link.

Click HERE to Purchase Your Wall Decals to create a Wood Sign!