Though it might not quite feel that way, spring isn’t all that far off — which means it’s not too early to start planning (or just fantasizing about) this year’s renovation projects. We perused a selection of DIY and home magazines, to see what they offer the home improver in you.

The Family Handyman likes that hard times mean homeowners must tackle more hard tasks themselves. Its cover package shows how to triple your closet space and create other instant storage nooks, just in time for early spring-cleaning rituals. Other articles reveal a host of chores, such as a simple task to help you avoid a costly plumber house call. For the more ambitious, the issue gives a handy wrap-up of the new plastic pipe PEX, which is revolutionizing plumbing chores with instant and foolproof connections. Despite its name, the magazine offers projects anyone can handle, whether it’s hanging a wall TV or determining whether to replace older lighting with economical LED devices.

This Old House offers a portable version of the knowledge shared in the TV series of the same name. Its cover story tackles the perennial springtime crisis of home-storage space. It gives several before-and-after projects on capturing space from attics to basements — or even in corners of rooms. Its standby feature of 101 ideas for the home ranges from making a Brooklyn backyard garden to repairing gaps in crown molding. There’s also the print version of tips drawn from the TV show’s segment, “Ask This Old House.”

Dwell is for the DWR crowd — as in Design Within Reach. This is the magazine for those who while away their weekends at the modern design store rather than laying their own flooring. With its devotion to clean lines and minimalism, Dwell is a gallery of expensive redesigns for people with cash to burn and time to spare for the showroom. The latest issue on kitchens is heavy on stainless steel cabinets, funky light fixtures and concrete countertops. The rooms all looked like they were designed to do anything but cook — and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Natural Home can be tough to take for those without sustainable bamboo floors or solar panels. The editors of the magazine mean well, but some of the articles come across as holier-than-thou. The energy issue is all about independence from fossil fuel, which sounds nice in theory. But how many of us want to pay more to the power company each month, like one woman featured in the magazine, so that we can say we support wind and solar power projects? The editors are so in love with solar power that they don’t really discuss other energy-saving systems, such as geothermal. A lot of its ideas for cutting consumption are basic ones like sealing windows and using more insulation, tips that readers of this magazine would have picked up on long ago.

The New Yorker celebrates its 85th anniversary with a double issue celebrating the civil rights movement. Editor David Remnick contributes an interview with President Obama, while one cover article delves into the “The War on Obama’s Attorney General” over the official’s recent decisions. Elsewhere, a piece on drinking says the rituals surrounding booze need to be better understood when considering alcohol’s impact on culture. A separate quirky article chronicles the pack mule’s long run in the US military, with a visit to a mule warfare training camp still thriving in California.

New York offers up the inside angles on how an Academy Award is won. It’s a high-pressure quest with as much madness and money as a US presidential campaign, complete with primaries. Contributing editor Kurt Andersen sounds the worry alarm with his piece about the reactionary tea party phenomenon, “Is Democracy Killing Democracy?” He notes our founding fathers created protections against mob rule, but that was before the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck hit the airwaves. Another piece delves into the wife-beating story involving NY1 anchor Dominic Carter, who just recently was released from jail over the incidents, and poses with his fearful-looking wife for the magazine’s sit-down photo shoot.

Newsweek splashes its cover with a tired but timely subject of rising layoffs. Its cover story, “Layoffs Are Bad For Business,” reports that economic downsides from making cuts ultimately outweigh any short-term benefits of cost-cutting bloodbaths. Turning to the rising Wall Street fears that Greece’s debt-default crisis could undermine the eurozone and the global economy, Newsweek says it’s time to cut Greece adrift. In matters of health, the issue also criticizes the growing phenomenon of biotech firms patenting our genes for their own exclusive use, with plans to sell us our genes when we need them in future medical cures.

Time focuses its cover story on Defense Secretary Robert Gates as the man who’s really in charge of our battlefields. He’s a Republican and a trusted aide to six presidents, and Time says it’s not yet clear what Gates stands for. In another piece, Time says the most trustworthy man in Washington is Douglas Elmendorf, the behind-the-scenes, publicity-shy head of the Congressional Budget Office. He’s got the ears and trust of power players on both sides of the aisle in Congress, and could be the one who pulls a rescue rabbit out of the hat.