With a heavy heart, we are sharing an article we published back in 2015 about Jay Austin. Jay and his girlfriend Lauren Geoghegan, both 29, quit their jobs a year ago to bike around the globe. On Sunday, July 29, they were killed in an attack in Tajikistan.

This is the story of Jay Austin, the owner and designer of a tiny house that sits at Boneyard Studios. If you are in the DC area, I'd encourage you to stop by and tour the house Jay has lived in the past three years.

Alexis & Christian spent nine months building their tiny house, and now they're in a middle of a two-year project capturing the stories of the tiny house community across the nation. There's a power in storytelling, and their goal is to contribute to a ripple effect of positive change through tiny housing advocacy.

Through their videos and blog, they tackle topics such as tiny house communities, legalities, building costs and parking. These are issues that we might not think about when we consider the option of living small, but these are the issues this community faces daily.

I have to admit, I didn't start following Shannon on Instagram because she lives in a tiny house or because I thought she might have looked familiar from the reality TV show, "Tiny House Nation." I actually became interested in Shannon because of her yoga and pole-dancing skills.

Browse through her feed and you'll know what I'm talking about. It's hard not to be impressed that she does all this on a pole in the middle of a small living space.

Looking to downsize, but aren't certain you could live in a camper or van in someone's backyard? Shannon's honesty will help you decide if a tiny house is for you.