Okay, so this is actually my first ever attempt at architecture. And one of few first at Blender (or CG overall, for that matter). First of all, thank you, everyone from CG Cookie, HDRI-Hub and Andrew, for holding this contest. I personally like to learn things on the run, while working on a project that requires skills that I don't have just yet. And this contest has been a great oportunity to do so (though, I admit, I was just tempted by the prizes as well).
The picture was Rendered with Cycles, post-production done in the Compositor.
The photo on the wall is by:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/doug88888/
I used an HDR from Architecture Academy free starter pack.
Also, on the ventilation, there's a metal bump map that I got on the internet.
Other than that, every single thing in this scene, from models to textures was made entirely by me, specifically for this contest and has not been used anywhere else.
