Postscript

The offending furniture

The chest of drawers and the bureau in our bedroom has been with us forever.
It's probably been more than 40 years since they've been replaced.
I decided this was the year and Marc was relieved. Turns out he's always disliked them so when we had a free afternoon we went to the new RC Willey store in Draper.
We were "just looking" to see what was available and what we could expect in the way of cost.
Of course, the nice lady who helped us hung in there and after she showed us two floors of merchandise and chests with little hidden drawers and surprise secret lights, we bought a pair of matched Chateau pieces.
We ponied up for their "free" delivery and set a date.
Meanwhile we hustled to clean out the old stuff, rearrange and give them away.
Once they arrived, I was pretty pumped.
I could arrange all my earrings and such in the hidden, velvet-lined drawer and we had space for sweaters, shirts. It was great.
Until...I noticed that clothes from the new bureau drawers smelled funny, sort of musty and odd.
I assumed it was because they had been stored in our old furniture for too many decades so I washed everything, twice.
Then I tried on a sweater I'd forgotten I owned and tried to wear it out of the house. It itched and bugged me until I took it off.
Every time I opened the secret drawer for my jewelry I noticed the strange smell.
I was becoming concerned.
We'd spent a lot of money on this stuff and I wasn't liking it.
I couldn't quite decide how bothered I was.
I tried Febreze. I put soap chips in the drawer with sweaters. I brought up a plant to live nearby.
I opened windows and left the drawers open.
I looked online to see if this was common.

The littler one

Apparently there is a problem known as new furniture smell that can come from something being made in China with formaldehyde as a fixative. It's a major toxic component and is known to be carcinogenic.
According to some reports China is dumping a lot of this kind of furniture on the United States.
I contacted RC Willey. The guy there said he's never heard of this happening but he'll do a swap-out in a couple of days.
That seemed a little extreme as the answer but he said it's possible that the problem is real.The thing is, the small chest is fine. It's just the bigger one that stinks.
So today I'm emptying out the drawers and sniffing around to see if I'm crazy or what.
What do those of you who know me think?
Crazy wins, huh?
P.S. It turns out I'm not crazy. The guys loading the chest and nightstand to swap out called us and said they stank too. The store then called and offered a full refund. Now I just have to figure out how to NOT buy more furniture from China....