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!

A dazzling array of self-seeders, including purple orach (center), one of my personal favorites. Photo: rebecca f/Flickr

What Is the Lazy Gardener's Guide to Self-Seeding?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 23, 2013

We all know that perennial flowers will self-seed, keep growing, and come back again and again, making them great staples for the flower garden. But did you know that the same is true...

Photo: Eunice/Flickr

What Are Cold Pantries and How Do They Help Green Kitchens?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 23, 2013

Before the advent of the refrigerator, we ate all sorts of foods that needed to be kept cool, including dairy products, meats, and fresh produce. The solution used in some homes was...

Photo: DIY Showoff/Flickr

Where Can You Take Beautiful Home Tours on Hometalk?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 20, 2013

Every now and then, I pop over to Hometalk to check on something and I get sucked in, pulling myself out hours later and wondering what exactly happened. One particular danger zone...

A rather brilliant tin can succulent planter. Photo: Irene G./Hometalk

What Are 10 New Uses for Tin Cans?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 20, 2013

Some times of the year, I feel like I'm churning out tin cans like clockwork, and this is one of them. It's not just the canned pumpkin I'm using for holiday baking because I don't...

This coffee shop features a number of reclaimed timber elements. Photo/design: Haldane Martin/Flickr

How Can You Use Reclaimed Timber in Your Home?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 19, 2013

Thinking about remodeling or building something from scratch? Chances are that you may have considered the integration of reclaimed timber from deconstructed homes into your final product,...

Photo: BloomingAnge/Hometalk

What Were the Top Kitchen Remodeling Trends for 2014?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 19, 2013

Did you know that summer and fall tend to be peak periods for home renovation? In part, it's because of the fair weather, and it's also because that's when people are making changes...

Meredith K. used overlays to punch up this ho-hum dresser. Photo: Meredith K./Hometalk

How Can You Dress Up Furniture with Overlays?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 18, 2013

You know how IKEA sells all this super plain, almost stark furniture? Many people use it as is, since the utilitarian look is a totally legitimate design choice, but I view it less...

Photo: Kathea Pinto/Flickr

Is Hot Water for Handwashing Really Necessary?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 16, 2013

If you're like me, you probably learned from a young age that when you wash your hands, you need to turn the tap to hot, lather up, and rinse your hands. Ideally, you should be running...

Old bottles turned bracelet holders by Laura Trevey at Hometalk.

What Are Some Easy DIY Organizing Solutions?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 13, 2013

Do you feel like your house is starting to spiral out of control? It's a common problem at this time of year in particular as you're trying to juggle cooking, baking, house guests,...

Photo: dhendrix73/Flickr

What Are 11 Clever Uses for Wooden Dowels?

Posted by Katie Marks | Dec 13, 2013

Wooden dowels too often seem like one of those things that stack up around the house or workshop -- you buy some for a project, you use what you need, and then you have leftovers that...