Clothes and accessories stored for a season or longer need protection from light, moisture, and insects. A box filled with acid-free tissue paper, assorted cedar inserts, and dried lavender makes it easy to prepare items as you put them away.

Wool scarves and mittens are ready to wear from one season to the next when wrapped in acid-free tissue paper and slipped into labeled craft boxes (available at organizing stores). The boxes are then stowed inside shallow drawers.

These oak-veneer cubbies are the ideal dimensions (about 10 inches square and 14 inches deep) for holding folded sweaters and pressed shirts. Painted and labeled wooden boxes are used inside the cubbies to corral garment- and shoe-care items and toiletries.

Before you spend an afternoon rearranging the furniture (or invest in a new set), do a trial run with a set of paper templates -- no heavy lifting required. Measure dimensions of each piece, then transfer them onto kraft paper. Cut out the templates, label them, then lay them on the floor in the intended spots. If you feel like leaving the templates for a few days (to ensure that the new arrangement flows well and is practical), stick them in place with safe-release painter's tape.

Keep laundry supplies tidy and out of sight with built-in shelves and a curtain that can be pulled across them when the laundry is done. Mothballs and cedar chips are stored in canning jars, and little bars of soap are kept in airtight containers. Towels for drying hand-washables are stacked on one shelf. Special stain remedies are kept together in a galvanized metal box; detergent is in a large plastic container with a scoop for easy measuring.