apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I haven't seen any of the Dwell products, so I can't speak directly to their quality. But chances are the off-gassing you're talking about is coming not from the finish, but from the wood itself. If the furniture has any MDF or particleboard parts (as nearly all furniture does nowadays, especially at this price point), the formaldehyde used in the glues that hold together the fibers/layers will offgas for a while.

Unless the furniture is described as being "100% solid wood", it will have MDF or particleboard in it. I ordered a dresser/changing table from Target (another brand) that was described as having "solid wood construction," which turned out to mean that some of the parts were solid pine and others were MDF. We ended up using a product called Safecoat Safe Seal to seal all the unfinished edges (or rather, since I was pregnant, I made my husband do this!) but there was still a lingering smell. Luckily we had a month or two to let the piece air out completely.

If I were furnishing my nursery over again (and was not on bedrest again!), I would not get a new inexpensive dresser--I'd scour Craigslist for something used (you sometimes see great all solid wood pieces, and if not, at least a used piece will have done the worst offgassing already) or get something from IKEA's LESVIK children's line, which is all solid wood except for fiberboard backs and drawer bottoms.

i was so excited to find the dwell stuff in my local (small town) target, but immediately bummed after just one pre-wash (my baby isn't due for weeks) the stuff looked like it'd been worn a couple dozen times! all sorts of pilled.
:(

I've had great luck finding baby furniture at thrift stores and baby consignment sales. In our area, the sale is privately run and happens for a month, twice a year. The prices are great and the selection huge - and this isn't a huge metro area. We just bought a used Lullabye crib (the company has recently closed) for $70 - all solid wood, sturdy and no offgassing. AND, it meets or exceeds current saftey standards. Trendy is fine, but I'll take chemical free over looks any day!

i also ordered a crib & changing table right away from target.com... but it still hasn't arrived. they emailed me multiple times saying that it was delayed and now they don't have any information and basically don't know what happened. yesterday i got a really nice email saying that they would send me a new shipment with both items - but they don't have any shipping date because the item is backordered. this is all super frustrating since my baby is due at the end of march...now i'm thinking i should just cancel the order if it will stink up the whole apartment once it finally gets here. has anyone had this sort of shipping problem with target.com before?

I ordered the crib in late January and still haven't received it. It didn't arrive in the time frame Target gave me so I emailed them to inquire and they cancelled my order and refunded my credit card. I then looked online and the crib was available so I called and they placed another order for me (grrrrr). My credit card still hasn't been charged so we'll see if I actually get it. I guess Target didn't order enough stock or else they didn't anticipate the demand. Now I'm very nervous about the smell that Tara mentions. I may just have to cancel and go with a BabyMod crib from Walmart. What a hassle!

Tara here...the person who sent the original question into Ohdeedoh. Interesting to hear other folks issues with shipping of their items. Ours was delayed as well and arrived about a week after they originally had said it would. jk2 makes a good point about the mdf. There was most definitely a lot of mdf used in the construction of the silverlake dresser. Perhaps that is where the smell was coming from. I'm just surprised at how strong the smell was. It was literally overwhelming.

We ended up getting a babymod dresser from walmart and have been completely satisfied with our purchase. We don't smell a thing. And it arrived at our door 3 days after I made the purchase online.

I haven't had an experience with the furniture, but I'll second jennyfreckle's comment about the quality of the other items. My set of adorable receiving blankets pilled and faded in the first wash. I admittedly didn't follow the recommended washing instructions, but what new mom has the time or space to lay receiving blankets flat to air dry?! What a disappointment!

We ordered the Dwell for Target Mercer Glider and it arrived on our doorstep yesterday. My husband had read this post about the suspected off-gassing before we ever got around to opening the box. Chemical smells generally give me serious migraine headaches and we were very concerned that the glider would be essentially unusable.

When I opened the box, there was definitely a smell. But I believe it is of the stain (we ordered the honey finish). I sniffed the disassembled arm of the chair, which probably contains no MDF...maybe some other kind of clever processed wood product. The glider is composed mostly of "negative space", so there isn't much call for MDF (unlike a changing table, where there are wide expanses of flat surface). The seat bottom and ottoman top are composed of tough fabric (like the underside of a boxspring or couch) stretched over thick, supporting wires.

We assembled it (fairly easy), and left it in the living room so the stain smell can dissipate before moving it to the baby's room. Eighteen hours later, (most of which have been spent in the house), I don't have a headache from exposure to the stain, which is highly unusual for me in the presence of any kind of strong odor.

As far as the quality of the glider itself... It glides! The cushions are a little hard, but the baby falls asleep in it and that's what I need it for.

I also had problems with shipping! I logged onto Odeedoh today to see if there were some ideas for a replacement cribs and found these posts interesting. Target informed me that they shipped the order, but that UPS did not pick up and now my items are out of stock. I'm thinking, "UPS didn't pick up-but it took my call for them to be aware of that??" I beleive it's more likely that they did not have enough stock-but confirmed orders anyway. Did anyone with shipping problems ever get their cribs??

I had the same experience with a Dwell for Target product - this time a blue and white striped rug. I had to get it out of the house immediately and open all the windows. I took it back to the store for a refund. I assumed it was the plastic packaging.

With respect to other prospective cute cribs (which there seem to be so many more of the year after I had a baby!), I saw this clean, simple, bright set at overstock.com (if the link doesn't work, you can search "Anna Orange and White Crib"):


http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Anna-Orange-and-Antique-White-Two-tone-Crib/3017335/product.html

Even if I can't buy it, someone else should!

Just curious - for those of you that have bought the furniture, did you find it to be sturdy and well made upon assembly?

Thanks!

we finally received the changing table... I ordered it weeks ago and when I called Target to check on it they said they'll have to refund me and they had no idea if/when it would be back in stock. they refunded me on a friday morning and friday night I logged on and it was back in stock... crazy... so I reordered... there was a promotion and it was $43 cheaper, which is nice. it took about a week to arrive... it definitely smelled strong but we got the walnut finish so I'm assuming it's the stain. it's not as bad now... the changer top piece was scratched and cracked so Target credited me $60 and I'm contacting storkcraft to see if I can get a replacement part. not a big deal... it's still fine. overall, I think it looks nice and I'm glad it wasn't expensive... I still think it's slightly overpriced given that it's not super sturdy.

I'm so glad I found this discussion. I was just checking Target.com again to see if I could leave feedback. I've got a Dwell Studio Silverlake changing table in walnut/white. I ordered it the day the line launched and we did receive it right away. But HOLY chemical smell is right. It reeked. Intolerable. Not something you'd want anywhere near a baby or yourself. My husband was determined to let it off-gas downstairs. He laid every piece out to let it air. He thought the smell was from the stain, but I'm 100% sure it's from whatever chemical comes with pressed wood.

It took a good 2 weeks for the smell to dissipate. My husband set to work putting it together. (Comes in many pieces.) It was packaged fairly well, but there was some damage during shipping. [Note from husband: the assembly instructions were useless, it was poorly made, the drawer sliders were bent and there was damage in shipment.]

So now it's sitting in my family room and I'm trying to decide whether to keep it. (I got it to replace an expensive Oeuf dresser/changing table that is unsafe and TIPS OVER. But that's for another posting.)

Here's my assessment. The Dwell Studio Silverlake is very cheap furniture that looks good. But not cheap in a good way. They used cheap materials and there’s not a piece of solid wood on the thing. Also, there's a major design flaw that I'd like to point out. Notice in pictures how the top drawer is shallow and the bottom two are deep. Well, when you put it together, the sides of the three drawers are all the same height. That's right - all of the drawers are only as deep as the top, shallow drawer. So you're loosing about 3 inches of storage on the bottom two drawers. This would be a simple fix by the manufacturer. It’s silly.

The pull knobs are sharp metal squares. This doesn't seem very baby-safe to me. In fact, it seems like a poor choice.

Now that the piece off-gassed for 2 weeks and has been sitting assembled in my family room for another 2 weeks, when I open the drawers, I still smell a chemical smell inside. Do I want to store baby clothes in this? No, I’ve just decided that I’m returning it to Target. On the plus side, it's an incredibly light piece of furniture because there's no solid wood anywhere...just hollow wood and particle board.

Bottom line on this Dwell Studio changing table: don’t buy it. It’s cheap, but not in a good way. The overwhelming chemical smell alone should be reason enough. I’m sure you could find more solidly constructed inexpensive furniture out there. Especially with a baby, you want solid wood, not pressed, stinky wood.

I could give a quick run-down on a few other Dwell Studio pieces I bought. (I was enthusiastic when the line launched.)

Hooded towel with cars. I consider it a back-up towel. It’s softer and nicer than a cheapie rough Babie’s R’ Us towel, but not as nice as our fluffy terry towel. It’s thin terry on one side and cotton jersey on the other, but not rough.

Zoo 3-piece bedding. It’s very cute, modern, and minimalist. The colors are great. The bumper is very thin, however. It’s inexpensive and does seem a bit cheaper than other bedding I looked at. Also, they should’ve put the animals on both sides. Unfortunately the other side is blue with tiny white polka dots – not very interesting. The matching zoo wall decals are very cute, but the animals aren’t very big.

Fleece blanket that goes with the zoo set – this is my favorite thing I received from Dwell Studio. It’s a lovely, thick, soft fleecy blanket. I use it every day…perfect to tuck in a stroller or to wrap around a baby in a bouncy seat. It’s nice looking with great colors. Would be a great gift too.

I ordered the Zoo flannel receiving blankets. It’s a cute set. I’m going to return them. a) I don’t need them, b) another reviewer said the pill and don’t wash well, and c) the washing instructions say ‘lay flat to dry.’ Who has time for that?

We just received a little lamp – blue with white polka dots. I haven’t put in a light yet. Looks cute, a little cheap, but it was very cheap. It seems to have a dimmer switch, which would be great.

Overall, I wasn’t blown away by the Dwell Studio line – even though I wanted to be. The big downer was the furniture. Perhaps they should raise the quality of the furniture and charge a little more rather than sully the Dwell name with cheap, poorly constructed and fabricated furniture. Remember Dwell, it’s for a baby’s room! We don’t want chemicals!