Basic Grasscloths
Basic grasscloths consist of triangle, sea grass, and boodle grasses. In any collection of grasscloths, these would be the least expensive grasscloth patterns in the collection. They have a 3 dimensional texture that is both visual and tactile. While less expensive than other grasscloths, they offer the essential qualities many grasscloth customers are seeking.
Basic grasscloths are often identified as “grasscloth”, “straw”, or “grass paper”, with no further identification. Of course, this tends to make price comparison difficult, if not impossible (which may be the intention). Grasscloth also suffers from the same “priced by the single roll” but “sold by the bolt”, that needlessly adds confusion to shopping for wallpaper in general. Grasscloth can also be priced by the “yard” and occasionally by the “square foot” (and still sold only in 8 yard bolts), to further test the consumer’s arithmetic skills. Discount Wallcovering prices by the bolt – the way wallpaper is packaged, and actually sold.
When shopping for wallpaper, if time allows, it’s recommended to get a sample before making a selection. At Discount Wallcovering, the sample fee is refundable at the rate of a sample fee for each unit subsequently purchased (for a subsequent purchase of the product sampled, or for a subsequent purchase of any other product).
We examined two basic grasscloths, both found on our website, BSB781 (left, below) and MPC004 (right, below).
From samples of each, we counted 5.5 strands per inch for BSB781, and 7.5 strands per inch for MPC004. From the strand counts, we can deduce that MPC004 is a significantly higher quality than BSB781, although, some wallpaper shoppers may prefer the less dense BSB781 for artistic reasons.
Sisal Grasscloth
Sisal grasscloth has a neat, trim look without the slubs that are characteristic of the basic grasscloths. We examined three sisal grasscloths from our website, GRR036 (left, below), GRS900 (center, below), and MPC048 (right, below).
From samples of each, we counted 18.5 strands per inch for GRR036, 14.5 strands per inch for GRS900, and 16.5 strands per inch for MPC048. Although the strand counts would indicate similar quality, the price variance (the brand effect) is huge with GRR036 and GRS900 priced at $266.90 ($314.00 MSRP) and $255.00 ($428.00 MSRP) respectively, compared to our house brand, MPC048 priced at $110.00. While all are priced by the bolt, GRS900 has a smaller bolt length of 19.5 feet (information found in the data sheet, below the GRS900 product listing) compared to the standard bolt length of 24 feet for GRR036 and MPC048.
Jute Grasscloth
Jute grasscloth typically is made from the jute core and is homogeneous in color although jute can include some of the jute skin which would give it occasional dark streaks. Of the grasscloths, woven jute grasscloth most resembles a textile. We examined three jute grasscloths from our website, BSB799 (left, below), MPC044 (center, below), and NEP430 (right, below).
From the samples of each, we counted 10.0 strands per inch for BSB799, 10.7 strands per inch for MPC044, and 9.5 strands per inch for NEP430. The strand counts were similar for all three, and on our website, the price of $110.00 per bolt was identical for all three. Other jute grasscloths, on other websites, generally sold for about double our prices.
Specialty Grasscloth
Specialty grasscloths reflect the brand effect on price differences. From our website we’ve selected GRR002 (left, below), a designer brand grasscloth, and MPC058 (right, below) – our house brand of a similar grasscloth (both are natural sisals accented with color highlights).
The prices of these colored sisals, accented with color highlights, was $348.50/bolt for the designer brand compared to $150.00/bolt for our house brand.
Discount Wallcovering 