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!

The so-called House at the End of the World under construction.

Extreme Earthships in Extreme Places

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 04, 2014

What is an Earthship, you ask? Good question. It's a highly sustainable building created entirely from recycled and natural materials, typically integrated together in a seamless whole:...

Photo: Joe Wolf/Flickr

Get Down With Rainwater Collection

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 04, 2014

Right now, the wet stuff is pouring outside; it's raining so hard that it looks a lot like someone is sitting on a cloud and upending bathtubs over the side, watching the water cascade...

Photo: Janel Hutton/Hometalk

The Rabbit Hole of Decor

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 03, 2014

Lewis Carroll's classic novel has been captivating minds for generations, and it's been inspiring decor for almost as long. There's something about those rich, lush, captivating scenes...

Photo: Brian Moloney/Flickr

Dress Up With Wainscoting

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 02, 2014

Ever walked into a home and felt like it's just a little more classy than your average house? Chances are that sleek interior look was helped along by crown molding, or wainscoting,...

A chicken wire art installation. Photo: Arne Hendriks/Flickr

10 Innovative Uses for Chicken Wire

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 01, 2014

With a name like "chicken wire," you'd think this popular metal fencing product is a bit of a one-trick pony, though it's actually anything but. Sure, you can use chicken wire for building...

Photo: Nick Dixon

The Chicken That Lays Square Eggs

Posted by Katie Marks | Apr 01, 2014

There's a lot of suspicious news in the works this April Fool's Day morning, but I'm pretty sure this one has to be real: Britain's ITV is reporting from a farm in Suffolk where hens...

Photo: Fine Homebuilding

Pop-up Passive House!

Posted by Katie Marks | Mar 31, 2014

As the passive house trend spreads globally, with people building homes inspired by the standard as well as those that meet its exacting qualifications, architecture firms are getting...

Photo: jade/Morguefile

Go Bold With Exterior Color

Posted by Katie Marks | Mar 31, 2014

You know that iconic image of San Francisco with the row of Victorian houses, the Bay stretching out beyond them? That's Alamo Square, home of the titles for Full House and a whole...

Photo: Mike Haller/Flickr

Cooking to Health

Posted by Katie Marks | Mar 27, 2014

Medical school is already a whirlwind of classes, intensive training, and first-hand experience with patients and other health care providers. Yet, as our understanding of medicine...

Photo: THOR/Flickr

Green Building Pitfalls

Posted by Katie Marks | Mar 27, 2014

Thanks to growing social awareness of how much trouble the planet is in, more and more people are building green and demanding enviromentally-friendly options in their housing. An entire...