DIY bed board -- Tree Slices

I've been meaning to post on this for a while and thank you for your sweet comments and questions on our bed boards. When we were building our new bedroom and envisioning what this new space would be like we knew we wanted lots of white and natural elements.  We had already decided we didn't want a traditional bed and that David would build our frame.  We contemplated some sort of art on the wall over our bed but had trouble deciding.  We were thinking some sort of nice cut of plywood with some nondescript type of painting but leaving all the grain of the wood showing.

Well, one morning waking up, I thought and said out loud to David -- "I wish we could just hang a tree on our wall, like take some vertical slices & hang them."

Boom.  David made it happen.  Remember that "accidental adventure" we went on?  It was to this awesome place that David found through googling saw mills -- Permavations.com.  Just about 25 minutes from our house this awesome wood worker Paul runs a mill (and a complete farm).  We pulled up to his house, told him our vision, and we walked into the shop/barn.  We looked at lots of cuts of wood as Paul told us all the specificities of each type of tree and how they were cut.  We looked at a few and then saw "the ones".  

Two book matched slices of Box Elder tree that already looked painted.  The red and grey/blue color streaks are a fungus and the black is some sort of tree disease.  Bingo.  It was exactly what I envisioned.  

How to: Here's the thing... we really had to nothing else to them!  All we did was bring the two slices home, run the orbital sander over them a bit just to get rid of some of the saw marks and then we rubbed it down with grape seed oil to seal it and give it a smooth finish.  Too get them on the wall we screwed in a couple of wood anchors on the back side of each end and hung them with wire.   

Cost:  The price for this project will vary depending on size and type of wood cut.   Including wood, hanging wire, and oil the price range you would probably spend between $150 and $600.  It really just all depends on what specification you want and really... how generous the saw mill is.  Permavations is amazing and has great prices.  They have so many different types of wood that are cut and sanded to all different sizes and finishes (the rarity of the tree and the amount of work that has already gone into creating the slab will determine the pricing).

Other Questions:  To answer a few other questions I have gotten, our bedding is from West Elm and throw pillows are Threshold at Target.  Paint is Pure White from Sherwin Williams, Satin finish duration grade.

Rest of the room still in progress, but I'll be sure to share... some day.