I thought this might start some discussion. Yesterday, I decided to wash the towels in the bath room. That was 2 hand towels by the sinks, and 2 bath towels on one end. When I took the towels out and came back in to put new, clean ones in, I noticed how loud, reverberant and bright the room became. Well, duh, it's a room filled with hard surfaces. I clapped my hands a couple of times and the room just plain rang. OK, that was interesting, but back to work. I put up 2 new fresh sets of hand and bath towels and noticed how quiet the room became. I did the hand clap again. I just was surprised how the ringing and reverberation had almost completely stopped. I had unknowingly damped the room, and did a pretty good job of it, by accident.
Moral of the story is that it apparently doesn't take much to tame down a bright room. I am going to experiment a bit with hanging some small towels around in the vinyl room, tho that room does have irregular surfaces and carpeting.
Wayner