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!

We can't promise your DIY crown molding will look quite like this... Photo: Steve Snodgrass/Flickr

Installing Crown Molding

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 17, 2014

Step into any older home, and chances are that your eyes are going to be drawn to the beautiful molding. Once a must-have in home design, molding has fallen by the wayside in newer...

Photo: Julie Rybarczyk/Flickr

18 Uses for Rubber Bands

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 17, 2014

Got a rubber band ball made up of the seemingly endless rubber bands that seem to trickle into your house when you're not looking? Take it apart. That ball is a total waste of an incredibly...

Photo: Tristan Ferne/Flickr

Where to Put Your Beehive

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 16, 2014

We love bees and beekeeping here at Networx, and if you're considering starting your own apiary this year, congratulations! Bees can be rewarding and tons of fun to keep, and thankfully...

Photo: Northern Homestead/Hometalk

Build a Geodesic Dome Greenhouse!

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 15, 2014

So I hear you want to build a greenhouse. You're tired of this frigid weather, you want to get some starts going early, or maybe you just have a hankering to plant a few things that...

Photo: Kristine Paulus/Flickr

Meet the Brooklyn Grange, World's Largest Rooftop Farm

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 14, 2014

It should come as no surprise to learn that we're totally into rooftop gardening, because it's a great use of space and a fantastic way to connect people with the source of their food....

Photo: Cybershot Dude/Flickr

Saving Frost-Bitten Plants

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 13, 2014

If you've been living through the polar vortex, or just plain cold temperatures, you may have been worried about a lot of things, including your garden. While your plants took night...

Photo: Jules Morgan/Flickr

Make Your Own Cheese Press!

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 10, 2014

Did you know that making your own cheese is actually pretty darn easy? All it involves is heating milk, adding cultures, stirring, setting the mixture for a while in a warm spot, and...

Photo: Anna M/Hometalk

5 Crafty Cleaning Tips

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 10, 2014

As we move into a new year, many of us are thinking about those pesky little cleaning projects we've been putting off: that grody grout in the bathroom, another go at Aunt Lucy's antique...

Knob and Tube Replacement Cost

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 09, 2014

If you're living in an older home or looking at one to buy, you may have encountered the term "knob and tube wiring," usually in the form of a recommendation to replace it for safety...

Photo: Bukowsky18/Flickr

Grow an Avocado...You Know You Want To!

Posted by Katie Marks | Jan 09, 2014

I don't know about you, but I'm an avocado fiend. I adore these delicious little fruits, particularly the rich, creamy Hass that's widely cultivated in California and parts of the Southwest....