Well I was able to use the item panel...
... but the game still suffered in some major ways. For one, it is a bit buggy. I went into the room with the fireplace and clicked the fire... so the keypad appeared. Then I went back out to check the numbers on that painting in the hall... when I came back, the fire was already burning, the keypad was gone, and I couldn't get it to come back to save my life. So I am guessing I was basically screwed at that point... and without a method to save progress I am not about to restart a game like this every time I run into a bug that screws me over.
It could also really benefit from a map. Many times you would turn one way with the directional arrows, and end up somewhere, then you'd use a direction thinking you were turning back, but end up in a totaly separate area... it would be almost impossible to remember the combination of rights and lefts that take you to each of the places you'd need to return to.
Also, the graphics that weren't the photographs really needed some work. Like the fire in the fireplace, and some of the items. They looked pretty poorly conceived/drawn. Which only shows that you didn't take much time on those, and werte relying on the quality of the photographs to carry your game forward graphically.
Anyway... not a bad concept. I liked the idea of being able to drag items on-screen in the photos to unlock hidden things (like the painting that moved out of the way to reveal the flashlight). This just needs a lot more work.