April arrives. Winter coats come out of rotation. Hall closets overflow. Tax refunds land.
Suddenly, the storage problems that were tolerated all winter move from being inconvenient to impossible to ignore.
What to do?
Rob Padovano of the family-owned Closettec in Manalapan said now is the time to act. In fact, he said, many already are.
“The phones start ringing in March, and they don’t stop for months,” he said. “Part of it is the season itself. People are changing over their closets from winter clothes, pulling out spring and summer wardrobes and digging stuff out of the garage. This is when many of us realize how things have gotten wildly out of hand. People are reorganizing, donating, decluttering and, in the middle of all that, realizing the closet itself is the root problem, not just what’s inside it.”
It’s also the season of tax refunds, Padovano said.
“People finally have the budget to do something they’ve been putting off, and there’s no sales tax because our closet and systems qualify as capital improvements,” he said. “A custom closet or storage space is exactly the kind of smart, lasting investment that feels right when you’re thinking about how to spend it well.”
Or when you’re thinking of listing your house, Padovano said.
“A well-organized, beautifully designed closet photographs exceptionally well and makes a strong first impression during showings,” he said. “It’s one of the highest-impact improvements you can make before going to market.”
BINJE recently connected with Padovano to talk about all this and more. Here’s additional snippets from the conversation.
BINJE: We get that spring is the time to invest in your house. Answer this: What is the renovation that homeowners consistently overlook?
Padovano: Storage, without question. People will spend $50,000 on a kitchen remodel, then wonder why their home still feels chaotic every morning.
The closet is where you start and end every single day. It sets the tone. When it’s dysfunctional — when you can’t find what you need, when things are falling off shelves, when the rod is sagging — it creates low-grade stress that follows you out the door. A custom storage system addresses that directly, and it costs a fraction of most major renovations.
BINJE: What features are NJ homeowners asking for most this spring?
Padovano: Built-in drawer systems are very popular right now. People want to consolidate their dresser into the closet to free up bedroom space. We’re also seeing strong demand for shoe storage, pull-out laundry bins and integrated LED lighting. The lighting piece surprises some people, but it makes an enormous functional difference. A well-lit closet feels like a completely different space than a dark one.
Kids’ closets are also having a moment. Parents are rethinking how those spaces are organized — building in adjustability as kids grow, creating dedicated zones for backpacks and sports gear. When the closet works, the whole morning routine works.
BINJE: We’ll give you a chance to push the profession: Why custom over off-the-shelf systems most homeowners try first?
Padovano: Most people try the big box store route once. They buy a system that looks good on the packaging, spend a weekend installing it, and within a year the shelves are bowing, the brackets have pulled out of the wall and nothing actually fits the way it was supposed to. That’s because those systems are built to generic dimensions that rarely match a real closet.
Every closet has its own quirks — an angled ceiling, an awkward corner, a door that swings the wrong way. A custom system is designed around your specific space and built by hand here in New Jersey, never from a kit. All our solutions are installed by professionals who do this every day. And because we’ve been doing this since 1989, we’ve seen just about every closet situation there is.
BINJE: What does the investment look like for a typical NJ homeowner?
Padovano: It varies based on the size of the space and the features involved, but the value proposition is strong. A custom primary closet system is typically one of the highest-return upgrades you can make on a dollar-for-dollar basis compared to other renovations. And because we manufacture our own products right here in New Jersey, we’re not passing along a middleman markup. That keeps our pricing more competitive than most homeowners expect when they first call us.
BINJE: Sounds good, but what happens if your product goes the way of a big-box store product?
Padovano: We back every installation with a 10-year warranty and include professional installation in the price. No surprise add-ons. No hidden fees. You know exactly what you’re getting.
BINJE: Give us your elevator pitch for someone who’s been putting this off?
Padovano: You don’t have to wait for the perfect moment, and you don’t have to do everything at once. As a family-owned business based here in New Jersey, we’re committed to doing right by our customers and working to find each family’s ideal solution. We have grown into New Jersey’s most-trusted custom closet solution because we offer a free in-home design consultation, the 10-year warranty and we’re rated 5.0 on Google with over 200 reviews. So there’s no risk in starting the conversation. You’ll walk away with a clear picture of what’s possible in your space, what it costs and what the process looks like.
Most people are surprised by how straightforward it is and how much of a difference it makes from day one. Spring is the right time. The closet swap is already happening. You might as well do it right.
