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: Jeff Ro/Flickr

Help! A Dog Is Knocking Down My Fence!

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 06, 2013

Whether you have an exuberant dog inside your fence who's always trying to fly the coop, or unwanted visitors outside the fence knocking it down, canines constantly testing the integrity...

Photo: Numb3r/Flickr

10 Uses for Milk Cartons

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 06, 2013

Maybe you don't go through milk by the jug like some people do, but chances are that you've got a steady supply of milk (or Lactaid) cartons streaming out of your house every month....

Photo: Sophia/Hometalk

Ways to Refresh the Living Room

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 06, 2013

The holidays are almost upon us, and you might be concerned about the state of your house. Over at Hometalk, users have declared that they're most worried about their living rooms,...

Photo: Jade/Morguefile

8 Ways to Go Green -- Affordably

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 05, 2013

Some green living guides seem to start with a long list of expensive things: update your appliances, replace all your windows, get new insulation. All of those things are smart moves...

Photo: Indi Samarajiva/Flickr

Care for Your Drain the Natural Way

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 04, 2013

Slow-draining plumbing fixtures are a pain in the showerhead. It always starts as a slow creep so you can try to trick yourself into thinking that nothing's wrong. Eventually, though,...

Photo: Alana Sise/Flickr.com

9 Uses for Pumpkin

Posted by Katie Marks | Nov 01, 2013

I'll let you in on a little secret: you can do a lot more with pumpkins than turn them into Halloween decorations or pie. Sure, you might have heard of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin...

Photo: xlibber/Flickr

Factcheck: How Wasteful are Steam Boilers?

Posted by Katie Marks | Oct 31, 2013

Vintage boilers are common in older apartment buildings and homes, complete with their delightful clanking radiators. (As anyone who has tried to sleep in a room with a radiator going...

Photo: USDA/Flickr

November Garden Checklist

Posted by Katie Marks | Oct 31, 2013

It's Halloween (eek!) today, which means that we're counting down rapidly towards the end of the year. Tomorrow, a new month dawns, and that means it's time to start thinking about...

Photo: mossimoinc/Flickr

Is a Gas Fireplace for You?

Posted by Katie Marks | Oct 30, 2013

The crackle of flames in a fireplace is especially appealing this time of year. It conjures up images of lounging on comfortable furniture, drinking hot chocolate, and snuggling into...

Your Fall/Winter Chimney Safety Guide

Posted by Katie Marks | Oct 29, 2013

Whether you rely on wood, pellets, or coal for heat, or you just like the atmosphere of a blazing fire now and then, it's time to start thinking about chimney safety. Chimney fires...