Decorate an Ikea Bekvam Stool with Vinyl

Hi, I've finally decorated my new Ikea Bekvam Step Stool. I used water-based dye and varnish to colour and protect the wood and heat transfer vinyl (HTV) to decorate that self-assembly wooden stool. The wood products I chose were super easy to use, almost odourless, and environmentally friendly too!

I used water-based products from Littlefair, a UK company located in Darwen, Lancashire.


Materials Used

IKEA Bekvan Wooden Step Stool
Water-based Wood Dye in Beach Hut Green by Littlefair
Water-based Extra strong Matt Varnish by Littlefair
Heat Transfer Vinyl in Cream

STEP 1 - Preparing the Wood

The stool arrived planed and sanded, but unfinished. Water-based products do raise the grain a bit, so my solution was to brush a light cover of plain water onto the wood surfaces. Once they were dry I used some fine sand paper to smooth off the surface. There was no need to spend too much time and effort, I just made sure that I removed all the dust residue.


STEP 2 - Dying the Wood

My colour choice was Beach Hut Green from the the Pastel Range of Littlefair water-based wood dyes.  I applied two coats with a flat paint brush along the grain of the wood. It dries really fast, so this didn't take long at all.


STEP 3 - Varnishing the Wood

A varnished surface helps the HTV adhere, and I used the Littlefair Extra Strong varnish in the matt finish, applying one coat on all the surfaces following the grain of the wood again. On the step parts I rubbed down the surface with fine sandpaper, cleaned up the dust and then applied a second coat of varnish. Some varnishes are VERY smelly, but this product wasn't at all. A bonus was the easy clean up - the brush cleaned up beautifully in warm soapy water.


STEP 4 - Leaving the Surface to Harden

The varnished finish was touch dry within a few hours, but I left it a couple of days before applying the final decoration to make sure that it was really hard.


STEP 5 - Cutting and Applying the Decoration

I used some of the Hollyhocks designs by Nic Squirrell and cut them from heat transfer vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo. Details on how to cut and apply them, and why I chose heat transfer over regular vinyl, are over on the Silhouette UK Blog, so pop over there if you want to learn more.

I love how this turned out - so much better than the old one that I never did get around to decorating!

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