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: Heather Cowper/Flickr & www.heatheronhertravels.com

Make Your Own Stone Bench

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 28, 2014

There's something wonderful about stone benches in the garden. They're timeless, classic, and elegant, and they can turn any space into a magical fairyland or pleasant place to rest....

Photo: Mark Smith/Flickr

Your Spring Pruning Guide

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 28, 2014

Are you scared of pruning? Lots of gardeners who are picking up the shears for the first time are definitely worried about making a mistake that will damage or even kill their plants,...

Photo: Thorsten Hartmann/Flickr

6 Sweet Uses for Lint

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 27, 2014

Every time you dry your clothes, you fish a little ball of fuzz out of the lint trap (at least, we hope it's every time: a clean lint trap is safer and helps your dryer work more...

Photo: davidd/Flickr

March Garden Checklist

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 27, 2014

I don't know about you, but my bulbs are in bloom as the days are lengthening and it starts to seem like winter might actually end for real at some point in the near future. What...

Photo: DIY Show Off/Hometalk

Creative Uses for Jewelry

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 26, 2014

As I grow older, I've found that I wear jewelry much less, while at the same time acquiring more as relatives and friends pass on and I end up with pieces of theirs. Some of their...

Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives

Deicing the Safe Way

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 26, 2014

With a cold, snowy winter lingering in many parts of the United States, many of you may be struggling with a perennial winter problem: an icy front walk. That freeze and thaw cycle...

Photo: Jennifer C./Flickr

10 Uses for Bottle Caps

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 25, 2014

The pop of a cap rocketing off a beer or old-fashioned soda, followed by the hiss of carbonation, is a familiar sound, but what happens next? If you're a tidier, like me, you probably...

Photo: Daniel/Flickr

Building a Cob House in a Day

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 25, 2014

Cob construction, using a mixture of clay, sand, straw, and water to create a very strong, functional, eco-friendly material, is popular in many regions of the world. Looking through...

Photo: Simon Fraser University/Flickr

Turning Pine-Beetle Ravaged Trees Into Furniture

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 24, 2014

Mountain pine beetles (known to less casual acquaintances as Dendroctonus ponderosae) are infamous across many stretches of North America with pine forests. These insect pests come...

Photo: Chelle/Morguefile

The Progression of a House Fire

Posted by Katie Marks | Feb 24, 2014

Having a house fire is one of my greatest fears, especially when I'm away from home and my paranoia is allowed to imagine up all sorts of horrendous scenarios. I'm the kind of...