A hairdresser says her salon ceiling “plonked down” just days before she reopened.
The ceiling in Karen’s Hair Design in Kildare Town caved in after an overhead water leak, just 10 days before she reopened her doors for business.
On May 1, Karen Walsh walked into her little salon to prepare for reopening on May 10 and found her ceiling “on the ground”.
Karen told The Mirror she “didn’t have time to get upset about it, just had to get on with it, and get open again.”
“There was a leak from another business upstairs and you know, a leak is a leak, these things happen.”
The salon had no ceiling, and a damaged floor.
“I only had everywhere freshly plastered and slabbed five years ago. Everything was so fresh, the ceiling just absorbed the water and plonked it down,” she explains.
Karen described her horror, saying that “if it had happened last month, you wouldn’t be as panicked, but when you have 10 days to get your stuff together - it was panic stations.”
With “fantastic help” from her landlord and three hardworking labourers to mend the ceiling, replaster and fix the floor “we had it all done in three days”.
“Everything was back in its place by Sunday and we opened up again on the Monday.”
Karen’s business is only small, “my little shop means everything to me so when I did see it on the ground... I just thought “Oh my God,” but with support from her loyal customers she was able to stay resilient.
When she was preparing to reopen, her regulars “were here dropping in coffees and buns. They are all friends at this stage. Not just clients anymore.”
Since reopening last week, Karen says business has been great and she and her customers are “in great form,” despite the disaster.
