Greenlight Bookstore Renovation Blog: Week 8

This is the eighth installment of a weekly blog hosted at Brownstoner chronicling the design and construction of the Greenlight Bookstore at 686 Fulton Street in Fort Greene. Written by project architect Frederick Tang of deFT Projects. See the first seven posts here.

It’s beginning to look a lot like a bookstore! After many layers of plaster and sanding and painting, the ceiling is now finished and the lighting trims, diffusers, and speakers are all in. The floor installation was completed and covered with protection. And now it’s time for Iris Lasn and his team to install the perimeter millwork. Most of the wood for the cases was cut and stored off site. Once they bring it all in, it’s relatively straight-forward to assemble it and attach it to the wall, but making sure it’s all plumb and straight is a bit of a challenge since the floor is pretty wonky in some places. There’s a lot of shimming to make sure everything lines up evenly.

The big drama for the week…

…was the accidental cutting of a radiator pipe that sent a seemingly endless geyser of standing water across our newly installed floor. In the 20 minutes that it took to stem the flow, the construction workers did triage with garbage backs, large paint buckets, cardboard boxes, and whatever else they could find. Luckily the plumber was on site—he fixed the pipe and we are back to being dry.

The pendant globes of varying sizes specified by lighting designer Peiheng Tsai were also hung this week. There’s a set in the front by the cash wrap and a set in the back above the children’s section. The window coverings that kept us shyly hidden for so long have all been taking down so you can stop by 686 Fulton and look through the storefront windows at the progress. Wave at everyone inside! Boxes of books are arriving by the pallet and the Greenlight staff is working hard on inventory.

Finally, a call for volunteers. Greenlight is looking for some help this weekend staining the shelves. If you’ve got a little elbow grease to spare, click here for details or e-mail info@greenlightbookstore.com.