Katie Marks

Katie Marks

Katie Marks is a California-based author who loves finding cool life hacks, sharing them with friends, and diving headlong into craft projects. If there is a garden somewhere, you can probably find her outside playing in it. She also enjoys cooking, reading, and being a full-time nerd. Don’t be fooled by her profile picture: She is a person, not a vegetable, who has written an incredible amount of insightful articles for Networx.com.

Among her written works, Katie has written about Earthships, which are highly sustainable buildings created entirely from recycled and natural materials, typically integrated together in a seamless whole (see her article “Extreme Earthships in Extreme Places” for more details: https://www.networx.com/article/extreme-earthships-in-extreme-places). She has also written about dressing up a home with wainscoting, in which she recommends adventuring into using unusual materials such lincrusta, hemp, sewn paper, fiber, and mosaics, if you are wanting to achieve a more unique look than that of wood paneling.
(https://www.networx.com/article/dress-up-with-wainscoting).

For those wanting recommendations for the best paint colors for the exterior of their home, I’d suggest checking out Katie’s article entitled “Go Bold With Exterior Color” (https://www.networx.com/article/go-bold-with-exterior-color), where she provides images and slideshows of homes that take advantage of the more saturated parts of the color wheel. This article provides exciting ideas for color schemes for those who have too big of a personality to settle for painting the exterior of their home in a dull grey or beige hue.


Katie also gives simple day-to-day tips for activities such as storing food properly (https://www.networx.com/article/store-food-right) and starting gardens (https://www.networx.com/article/gardeners-start-your-seedlings), where you can really see her passion for gardening shine through her writing.

See more of Katie’s articles below for more life hacks, home improvement tips and gardening how-tos!

Photo: James Jordan/Flickr

Cool Carpentry Project: Grow Light Bookshelf

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 09, 2014

I love multipurpose objects with a passion. They appeal to my aesthetic sense and also to my desire to live a low-impact life: why have three things when I could have one thing that...

Photo: Benjamin Chun/Flickr

Gardening for Dummies

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 08, 2014

Have you decided to hop on board with the urban gardening trend? Whether you're limited to a few buckets in a sunny corner of the house, a little garden on the porch, or you have actual...

Andrea Mancini/flickr

Resolution Central: Greening the Bathroom

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 08, 2014

Did you make a resolution this year to keep up with housework? We commend you, but we also know it can be a difficult undertaking, especially when you're already knee-deep in work,...

Photo: SDRandCo/Morguefile

Don't Let the Polar Vortex Ruin Your Home!

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 07, 2014

It's brutally cold across much of the US, which has many people huddling indoors and seeking shelter. While you're staying warm inside, though (or calling your HVAC technician to find...

Photo: Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr

Water-Saving Tips for Drought Times

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 06, 2014

I grew up in a house that relied solely on a 1,000 gallon tank of rainwater for our water supply. Once we ran out, that was it, and running out was a serious concern some summers, especially...

Photo: Angela England/Hometalk

6 Inspiring Garden Paths

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 03, 2014

A good pathway can totally change a garden. If you've got a muddy, messy path surrounded by beautiful plants, your plants won't seem quite as flashy, thanks to that ho-hum trail slashing...

Dollar Store Crafts

Seven Fun Uses for Matchboxes

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 03, 2014

Whether they're strike on the box or not, matches can be useful around the house, and you may well have a packet or box rattling around somewhere. But what do you do with a matchbox...

Linoleum is popular as an artist's material.   Photo: Kim Love/Flickr

Not All Linoleum is Created Equal

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 02, 2014

I may have mentioned recently that I'm in the process of getting ready to replace my bathroom floor, which is currently a mix of aging vinyl flooring and carpeting. The vinyl floor...

These shoes need a cobbler!  Photo: katesheets/Flickr

Resolve to Repair in 2014

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 02, 2014

You're probably familiar with the maxim "reduce, reuse, and recycle," adopted across green-loving households everywhere as people commit to cutting down on their waste. It's an easy...

Photo: Anthropologie

8 Amazing Octopus Light Fixtures

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 01, 2014

I love octopuses: they're beautiful, they're smart, and they're just a little bit weird. Did you know that a 600-pound octopus can compress itself down to the width of a quarter to...