Waco, you are funny. Not a realtor, just someone who has bought and sold during different economic times. And real estate is local. My area, and many others, did not collapse during the financial crisis and inventory was quite low. Every town, county, state is different, so you can't just make blanket statements. Everyone should analyze their local market data and their personal financial situation and then make decision based on that, and not some national data summary or doom and gloom media coverage. The world isn't ending. I am sure those that died would trade places with someone that is just having real estate issues. Perspective. Pessimists are gonna spread pessimism ...

We are building right now as well. We found out that the company that we are getting all of our plumbing fixtures is closed, but we were lucky that they were able to ship us the rough-ins. I am emailing the tile person my Pinterest boards, and she is going to pull samples, and I can meet her by appointment. As of now, our kitchen cabinet manufacturer in Canada is still open. Our windows are supposed to go on Monday, but now it's going to rain again for four days, so we are praying they can get them in next week. You are so lucky to be so far along. I would look for other cabinet makers on your own and get bids.

My house is open plan but also cozy. I don't think there's a rule that says "open" must be "minimalist," because if there is, I've shattered it ;-) The hub of our house (kitchen, dining area, living) is open but on a human scale - normal ceiling heights and room dimensions (in fact, I have apartment sized couches because they're the right size for the space). Lots of art on the walls, bookcase in niches, odd items acquired in our travels in the china cabinet and on most surfaces, etc. Noise isn't an issue because there are just the two of us, and we (mostly) enjoy each other's company. We do have a separate tv room/library with a double width pocket door that can be an open or closed space depending on mood and circumstance. I like the easy flow of it all, and the ease of moving around in the space. But minimalist it definitely is not!

This is really hard on my parents, who live next door to us. My mom watches my brother's 2 kids M-F and the oldest (4 yrs old) keeps seeing my girls in our backyard and wanting to play. We have been strictly complying with social distancing for the past 3 weeks so, even though we live next door, we don't. To make matters worse, one of our closest friends have 2 children and both of their jobs are considered essential so they HAVE to go to work. They didn't want to put their kids in a daycare so I've agreed to watch their kids. Their jobs aren't public facing/medical so it is a lower risk and I would much prefer for my pseudo niece and nephew to NOT be in a daycare environment, especially considering a kid at a local daycare tested positive. Only the kids come inside, and they change clothes and wash hands immediately. Then I sterilize anything they touched. When my mom saw that I had other children over when I wouldn't let my nephew come over, she got very upset. I explained the situation and she understands but it is still hard on her, and REALLY hard on these kids who don't understand why it is they aren't allowed to play with the kid they can see next door, or walking down the street. As for me, school @ home for 4 has become school @ home for 6 so...at least I'm kept busy!!