My bedroom closet butts up against an outside wall facing north. Can you suggets a solution for this? I thought to put up a vapor barrier clovered with insulating panels and the cover all withthin veneer board of sometype.

My first reaction was "fill it with clothes and close the door"... however a closet is small enough that you might as well do it properly if it is not already insulated. Take the drywall/ plaster/ lath down, insulate, install vapour barrier and reinstall new drywall.

You'd have most of the job done in a weekend... with taping and mudding done during the following week in the evenings, and then paint the next weekend.

It's a great first job for a neophyte DIY'er.