The linked photo seems to be an hdri photo, I don't like this kind of photo, I find it absolutely unnatural. But, the camera is much more near to the floor than in the render, try this perpective to improve the view quality!
Edit: I'm reading right now your answer. Well, it shoud be pretty to see your reference photo to have a match ;) About light contrast, I mean it seem to have too much light everywhere, like the hdri photo linked by xt13r, my opinion is that there must be more shadowed areas, and darkness shadow, it is not possible (of course not natural) to have the same light everywhere. An example, so far from this scene, if I take a picture inside a room with a window with a splendid sun outside, or you take the exposure inside the room (and you will have about white on the window) or you take the exposure into the window (and you will have a very dark room). All the rest is unnatural, artificial and should be good for a forniture catalog, but I find it not good for an exterior picture. As I've said, it's just my humble opinion, of course! ;)