Did you know that the armoire was originally a storage unit not for your socks and underwear or your sweaters and shirts, but rather a place to stash guns and iron weapons? Strangely, armoire cabinets were primarily used a placeholder or storage unit for the weapons that a family owned!

Fast forward to today and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone using their Honey Can Do Wardrobe Closets to store the family shotgun or a collection of swords! But at that time, the armoire meant something else than it does in our modern day.

In fact, if a time traveller from the past came up to you today and saw a big wardrobe closet in your room, he might think it's odd that you consider this an armoire but don't call your wooden cabinets an armoire. This is because the term "armoire" originally meant nothing specific to the so-called wardrobe closets of the day. Instead, armoire referred to any type of wood based storage unit that had cabinets or shelving inside it. You can see from this definition today why there are so many types of armoire furniture products that still fall under the umbrella of armoire, but have nothing to do with storing clothes. (For instance, wooden jewelry armoires come to mind as a ready example most are familiar with.)

Now at some point, these armoire storage cabinets that housed weapons started to accommodate other items not related to warfare. Most likely the armoire stored not clothes but dinner ware and other belongings a family, such as family heirlooms and relics. Then, on down the line, they started to be used to store sheets, blankets, and clothing. Finally, probably due to a marketing campaign in the middle of last century, armoires and wardrobe closets became synonymous in the minds of most shoppers who were unaware of the rich history of the armoire. But it wasn't always this way!