Could this have been a therapy room rather than a bathroom? The stairs look a lot like stairs used for rehab, and the shower would have helped loosen up muscles before using the stairs. That would explain the medicine cabinet (probably things like bandaids, low dosage pain meds, etc for bumps and bruises). Motts, was there anything else that made it look like a bathroom (toilets, sinks, etc)?
The building I work in used to have marble very similar to this covering the entire first floor (walls and floor both!). They decided it was too much work to maintain (because cleaning it yearly was too hard?), so they covered it with drywall. The biggest insult: They did a fake marble finish on the drywall!
"And one can safely say anyone who feels the need to have say 10,000 fans in their back yard is obsessed." Maybe they're just hot? I have multiple fans in my home office to keep everything cool (although not quite that many).
Wait... What? People actually collect these things? Wow, I guess there really is a market for everything! I wonder what I have laying around that people would want?
Without there being an open flame, I doubt that these would have gotten hot enough to start a fire. No actual flame would occur until the wood was around 535 degrees, which is when the gases released would become combustible. Before that the wood would smoke, dry out, probably char, but not burn. This can be taken advantage of to char decorative patterns into wood, technically called "burning", safely. Since the temperature on most steam radiators (I'm assuming this was steam, right?) doesn't exceed 230 degrees, this would be completely safe.
I'm guessing Chipy means Seasonal Affective Disorder. Briefly, it means that during late fall/winter people who suffer it (myself included) get depressed because we don't get enough light, and the pineal gland overproduces melatonin. There are two treatments currently, antidepressants (which have wicked side effects) and light box treatments (which are expensive). Of course, getting as much natural light as possible also helps out.
That looks bigger than the bedroom in my first apartment, and (sadly) in better shape too! Lord Motts, I know you must get tired of hearing this, but damn do you know how to take a beautiful picture! No other photographer has ever impressed me like you...
This is it! This is the one! If I could get any picture of yours in print form, it would be this one! This would be the perfect example of how to do IR correctly, and should be used in every photography class. (Are you blushing yet? :D ) I'm serious, though, this picture is one of the best I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot in my time.
I have a mini-fridge, microwave, and yes even a toaster. The microwave can't really toast toast as well as a toaster can (hope that makes sense to you). Mainly, why not have a toaster in your office? They make great conversation pieces...
Peaches/AtO: I gave fair warning, it is definitely not a pretty picture. Not sure why anyone would want that picture on the front page of their website, but hey, it takes all types.
A.S.V.: It's not a beauty salon, but yes, they did have those in many institutions as well. They wanted the patients to feel normal. Please don't type in all caps, it gives me a headache.
Some things are better left unknown... If you really feel that you have to know, do a google search for sitz bath. When you reach a page with a large disturbing picture and the company name "Adam" on it, you're there... ~shudder~ And I had just gotten over all of this...