Assuming they hired a professional designer to do the model living room, what I see is that under the best of circumstances, that living room is awkwardly set up. In the model room, there is space for three, maybe 4 people to sit. Only one seat directly faces the TV set. Look at the furniture in that room. One small sofa or loveseat. One armchair. One TV stand. One end table. One large coffee table that was chosen to fill up the empty space in the center of the room to make it look more furnished. Imagine that room without the coffee table and it starts to look a lot like the OP�s room. There are three lamps, one of which appears to block part of the TV. And then at least 4 plants, to make the room appear more furnished and welcoming. I think they did a wonderful job making that room look open and inviting, and hiding the more obvious flaws in the design of the room. The room�s layout simply doesn�t function well. Either you have the sofa on the wall in the model room, and then you have a hard time watching TV, or you put the sofa on the window wall so you can see the TV set, and then you lose the view out the windows and have an awkward layout. OP, it�s not you. It�s the room. Working with the furniture you have, the first thing I�d do is take out the two small chairs. They don�t work with the rest of the furniture. Then I�d try to put the sofa on the wall where it is in the model room, and buy a table top TV swivel stand so that you could easily watch TV from there. Move the blue chair to the same position as the woven chair in the model picture and place an end table between the sofa and the chair. Down the line, look for a coffee table similar to the one in the model picture�glass or Lucite to keep the space looking open, and slightly oversized to fill the space better. And maybe a smaller unit to hold the TV.

Well, I think it is sad that the world has come to this. All because of a bunch of ignornant people (nobody here) getting a breed they dont know a lick about, and dont give them what they need. I know Germany has a ban on many dog breeds including Dobies and German Shepherds...Sad, sad, sad. I know of incredibly responsible owers of dogs which are under the bully breeds and their dogs could not be more gentle and well behaved, and yet I know of dog owners who hae under 30 pound breeds (mostly accepted here in the apartment world) which are out of control yappy and aggressive towards any other animal or person. I know of a person who takes pitts out of the ring and works them into search and rescue dogs - this takes a tremendous amount of energy and dedication, and those dogs never go back to being aggressive towards anyone because they are now in the right environment with jobs to do and people to save. I had a heck of a time getting an apartment for my mastiff mix, i had to include a tremendous amount of paperwork including refs from my local humane society's behaviorist, It may be this is out of the managers hands due to insurance regluations. Tho I would ask if she might be willing to work with you on this. If so, I suggest your take your dog into a behaviorist to get it evaluated, and have the behaviorist write the management a letter. You never know what might work. I do think it is a shame there are biases towards these dogs, I also undrestand peoples concern. I know for a fact that many people in southern California bought bully breeds when the Night Stalker was on the prowl, they wanted cheap 24 hour protection - when the guy was caught, alot of people just opened up the gates to their yards and let their dogs (many with behavioral problems) go out to live for themselves in the street. I relaize this is a huge problem, but I fear for the future of these breeds deemed dangerous because they are not brought up in an environment where they get what they need. Any dog can turn viscious in an unhealthy environment or due to health problems...I dont like debating thsi because so many people are so passionate about this - for and against. I wish you luck in your search for a resolution with your dogs, and hope you can find someone or some place willing to work with you. Personally I think every dog should be evaluated on its personality, not its breed.

Voted for him. Maire Cate, you can sign in with your Google or Yahoo! ID, but the AMC site makes you join it and share your info to vote. I hate that.

Cakbu, I will have to check out Peach Flambe, thanks. I have Paprika in my garden and mine is much redder. I lost all the leaves from last year but the new ones are coming on strong and are quite pretty.