Dance Hall Renovations

I was in a large hall with dark tiles, all variations of a reddish brown granite material. About one fifth of the tiles were missing where a set of offices had once taken up the back two corners of the building. The carpeting had been removed along with the office walls, but instead of replacing the flooring the contractor had left it bare cement. It hadn't even been painted.

Imaged to get a copy of the contract, and it was clear that the floor of the whole building was supposed to be replaced. A couple of calls led me to find that the natural looking tiles were manufactured, and there were plenty in stock. Armed with that knowledge I met with the contractor, pointing out that they could either be on the hook for the whole floor, plus penalties for not making the deadline, or they could spring for the tile I had found and send a couple of workers out to help me lay the tile before our big dance event.

My volunteer team had taken the measurements of the floor, then covered it with colored butcher paper in hopes of making the best of it. With only three days to go before the event, I managed to get the flooring contractor in there, and working with them, we got the floor installed, and recovered it with the paper.

On the night of the event, everyone was gathered as the host explained the problem with the floor. Myself and about a dozen volunteers stepped out of the crowd and pulled up the paper to reveal that the floor had been replaced. The tiles were a perfect match, and the host was astonished. We rolled the bandstand in from the back room and let the festivities begin. The colored lights reflected nicely off the faux granite tiles making a bright warm atmosphere for the dance.