DH spilled nail polish remover on my dining room table & I have ?s

Last night, while I was at the store, DH thought it would be a good idea to try to remove a small ink stain on one of DS's shirts by using nail polish remover on my very expensive dining room table. :32: Needless to say, he spilled the nail polish remover everywhere. He used a hand towel to mop up the excess and ran it through the washer a couple times, but now I am afraid to throw it in the dryer, because I'm pretty sure that stuff is extremely flammable (says so on the back of the bottle, too: "liquid and vapors may ignite" -- yikes!). The towel has been hung to dry, but at what point do you think it will be safe to throw into the dryer with the rest of our laundry? I'm worried about burning the house down now!

Also, has anyone here ever refinished a nice wooden table and gotten good results? DH has called a few professionals this morning, but I'm still in despair. Will my dining room table ever look decent again?

I'd probably wash the towel many, many more times or just chuck it out. Why take the risk?
My first coffee table was a hand-me-down that had polish remover spilled on it. I tried to refinish it myself, but the wood was permanently discolored. So in your case with such a special piece, I'd leave it to a professional. It will have to be stripped probably, and then refinished. And the sooner the better. You don't want that stuff sitting around and getting into the wood.
I'm so sorry it happened.

Put it in the sun for a few hours, the chemicals will volatilize, wash and put in the dryer. It volatilizes very quickly.

I'd probably toss the towel-
My mom and I refinished her mom's table, not something I'd do around small children. Like the PP said, I'd take it to a professional, and make sure DH pays sufficiently through the nose to fix it. I'm sorry too!

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Originally Posted by wencit

He used a hand towel to mop up the excess and ran it through the washer a couple times, but now I am afraid to throw it in the dryer, because I'm pretty sure that stuff is extremely flammable (says so on the back of the bottle, too: "liquid and vapors may ignite" -- yikes!). The towel has been hung to dry, but at what point do you think it will be safe to throw into the dryer with the rest of our laundry? I'm worried about burning the house down now!

Also, has anyone here ever refinished a nice wooden table and gotten good results? DH has called a few professionals this morning, but I'm still in despair. Will my dining room table ever look decent again?

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Acetone - the major ingredient of most nail polish removers - is extremely volatile and will evaporate given the least chance.

If the towel has been washed a couple of times and hung to dry, the stuff is probably gone already. Smell it and see what you think. A good soak in hot water would also cause the chemicals to evaporate pretty quickly.

As for refinishing a table, nothing could be simpler. Get a good stripper for fine furniture (like Peel Away 6, which is non-toxic) and go for it. If you want better instructions, just PM me and we can discuss.

Good luck! :)

if you have a custom cabinet shop in your area they can prob refinish it for you. My FIL works for one and does amazing work

Thanks so much for all your replies! DH is still working on getting the professionals out here. Crossing my fingers that they'll be able to work a minor miracle.

I'm probably going to toss the towel since it's cheap and was absolutely soaked through with nail polish remover (the smell made me sick), but the shirt that DH was working on was one of DS's favorites from HA. Since that only got a small amount of polish on it, I'll follow what Ivy and Tracey had to say and wash it several times, leave it on the back porch for a few days, and then dry it. :)

Thanks again for all your help. Moral of the story: a little ink on a shirt is better than a whole bottle of spilled acetone!