I have been doing woodworking as a hobby for about 10 years.  About four years ago I built a large jewelry armoire (about the size of a large kitchen cabinet) with several drawers.  I used Minwax Ebony Stain and Minwax Polycrylic (water based) wood finish.  I finished both the inside and out in this way, but there are some areas that may have just had stain and no finish on it.  The inside and outside of the drawers were also finished in this way.  I did let it air out for a few days before bringing it in the house, but the inside and drawers have retained an odor. 

 

I think I may have made some mistakes in the finishing (too cold temperatures and maybe not dry enough before additional coats) that is causing it to still be outgassing because when you open it up and pull the drawers out the odor is strong.  You cannot smell anything outside of the piece when the doors are closed.  When I opened it up last night for the first time in awhile, the odor was quite strong.  

 

My question is this:  Do I need to be concerned about the fumes coming from inside the piece.  I know it must be a very small amount that is escaping as because there is zero odor when it is closed unless you put your nose right up to the crack where the door meets.  It has been in our bedroom for four years and I am scared that my wife and I have been inhaling low levels of toxins every night for that long.  Are the ingredients in the stain or the finish anything to worry about at low levels?  I am very paranoid that we may have been exposed to toxic materials.  I have looked at the msds sheets for everything and they do have ingredients that can cause toxicity with “Prolonged or Repeated exposure”.  I am not sure if this qualifies.  I intend to refinish everything with Shellac to seal in and further off gassing.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.