Here's a selfie my brother took in 1983. I know we did many of those even when I was a kid in the '60s. You couldn't do them in the mirror, though, because the flash bulb would ruin it.
I got rid of cable TV, but found I don't have time to watch much anyway, and I don't want to buy a smart TV. Besides, I pay more for internet access than I ever did for cable TV. My standard flatscreens are in a closet, and I'd get rid of all these cathode ray tube sets if I could lift them. I do subscribe to Philo, but only in those few months that The Walking Dead is on.
I think it just came down to a shorthand for what we are familiar with. Historians never say "Nero fiddled while Rome burned," but it is a common idiom ...or at least it was when I was young.
You're right- I see from the floor plan that bedroom #1 is 6' 2", bedroom #2 is 6', bedroom #3 is 5'10", the reception room (parlor, I guess) is 7'3", and the dining room at one end is 9' 11" wide! It's like a TARDIS -bigger on the inside.