We went from a serious dining room to none at all, and the place of honor my grandmother's china formerly held has been reimagined via Craigslist. The secretary was built by my great-grandfather from a kit from the Montgomery Ward catalog. That's the original paint job, complete with black ink stains.

Neat! I've got the exact same secretary in my dining room. It was built by my great-uncle in his high school shop class, back when the earth's crust was still cooling - probably from the same plans. Love your plate rack; great use of small space.