Summer House Recovers From Flood

Tyler Taylor is a much happier woman today than she was two months ago. On June 5, a faulty sprinkler system flooded her store, The Summer House on Forest Street. About 60 percent of her inventory was destroyed. But last week, after two months of cleaning and restocking, she opened her doors again.

"I love being back open," Taylor said. "And it's nice to get up in the morning and get dressed up for work, instead of coming to work in galoshes and sweatpants."

The Summer House sells mostly high-end, antique furniture. In June, renovations in the space upstairs triggered the store's sprinkler system, flooding the store for about 15 minutes, leaving a pool of water an-inch-and-a-half deep throughout the store. The damage to her stock's upholstery and woodwork left most of it unsalvageable.

Although she has done the work to get back into business, Taylor said it's not fully recovered yet. She estimated that she has replaced only about 40 percent of her lost inventory. So for the rest of the month, The Summer House will be on summer hours, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. "It gives us a chance to get our inventory back into check, and figure out where we need to fill in the gaps from what we lost in the flood," Taylor said.

When the store returns to full hours in September, she expects to be busy. At the same time, she'll be preparing to pull all her inventory out again—this time to move into her new space. On Oct. 1, the shop will reopen down the street at 32 Forest St., in the newly renovated Griffin Ford building. "It's a lot more industrial," Taylor said of her future digs. "It's got high ceilings, and a skylight—It's absolutely beautiful."

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