guys, thank you all!
it's so nice to have good critiques from people whose works i've been saving for months in my \maxwell\masterpieces folder
def4d: what is the wall you're refering to? the one in the low-angle shot interior? if I remember well, that is just a maxwell diffuse with no "tricks" at all
Thomas An: glad to know that i'm not the only one here who loves exterior shots
val2: the original images are 2400 x 1600, 1600 x 1200 and 1200 x 1200, that's why (downsampling) the seems so smooth here... the rendering times go from 5-6 hours to 100 hours (

) for the 2nd image. everything was rendered on a straight PIV 3.0 GHz (2 GHz RAM)
otacon: that was definitely the goal. hence that Architectura Digest (Japan edition, which is always exotic) in the foreground
messire: the texture is a normal wood floor... aniway, here it is
Andrea