Mid-century lighting continues to go very much mainstream — evidenced by the continuing proliferation of lower cost designs more affordable for the masses. Hey! Just like in the 1950s! Flickr friend xtombx spotted the Nadair Nuevo pendant lights (shown above) for sale at his Menard’s store. The one on on the left is 14″ wide, the center is 7″ wide, and the right is 8″ wide. Each one is just $30. At the left is a more expensive glass pendant by Checkolite. It’s about $60, and there are two other glass designs. All of these lights also are featured online, with free shipping — go to Menard’s site here and search the brands I’ve listed. Note: I have not seen these in person, so cannot give an opinion on the visible quality of workmanship.
Update: Lots of readers are buying these lights, including with the intention to repaint them. Let us see how they look! Upload your photos below… Terms of Use apply:
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To see readers’ photos in this slide show, click on the first image, look for the description just below it, and use the arrows there to move forward or back:
Retro bathroom sconce from Menards for as little as $7.98 
Wow: 100+ atomic pendant lights from 1955 — @ $249 Buy-It-Now 
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Wow, these are fabulous!! I’ve been looking for pendants for over my kitchen counter and couldn’t find anything I could afford that I liked. I wish there was a Menards in New England so I could see them in person.
John
BE CAREFUL when buying lights like this. Check out what kind of light bulb they use first and how much replacements costs. My husband and I remodeled a bathroom. We were very excited about the new lights, until the bulbs burned out! Very expensive and can only buy them in lots of 12!
They do look good in the pics, though. It would be worth ordering and sending back if they don’t measure up. Nice source!
WOW! The first one is my favorite. Hmm, $300 or $30?!
Yes, $29.99
I”m in heaven, I love these. Thank you for posting, just may be a great day yet!
Thanks for sharing my find, Pam!
As for the quality, they are spun metal and the paint was so-so, but for 30 dollars, one can afford to sand and respray them if it bugs them THAT much.
They use a standard 75 watt bulb. The store displayed them with 3 different CFLs, which looked, um, odd…
If anyone is interesed, i can go shoot the display pieces and post them on my flickr. let me know! (its no problem, i live 3 blocks form my menards!)
I bought one of these about three months ago! I was totally going to email you about this, but I just didnt find the time! Aren’t they great!
These are really nicely priced! If you don’t like the color or paint quality, a rattle can of paint is a cheap fix. I bought some cheap ($30) sconces at Lowe’s that have the BEST glass shades. I overbought just for the shades and will use some as wall sconces, and others as ceiling lights. For the ceiling lights, I just bought the cheapest holders Lowe’s had that would fit the globes, and they are plain white, so I will be painting them some fun color like Jadite green.
More on pendant lighting – I have two antique deco custard glass shades that will be hanging over my breakfast bar, but directly opposite the stove. My shades have stenciled paint designs on them, and I have been trying to wrack my brain about how to resolve the inevitable grease splatter likely to accumulate on them, which in turn necessitates much more frequent washing, which then puts my hand painted designs on them at higher risk of wearing off.
I’ve thought about hanging a cheap mylar roll down shade recessed into the soffit so I could just pull it down while I am cooking and stop the splatter on my pendant lights. Then this morning, I thought of another alternative…..I could just slip the old fashioned elasticized shower caps over each shade while I’m cooking, since my shades are about “head sized” anyway!
I’m sure I can find some nifty print vintage shower caps on eBay, lol.
Happy light shopping everyone!
Where’s my jacket?! I’m goin to Menards! That metal base would look good under a transparent brass or copper. Go to Autozone and look for color chrome it comes in several colors and is meant to go over chrome or other shiny surfaces
I’m surprised that Menards has something this trendy. They look like knock offs of a designer who’s name I can’t recall – they were in Wallpaper a lot about a year or nine months ago!
I would love to see a picture of one installed in a home. I like them so far.
Wish that they had them in just spun aluminum/brushed nickel finish. Afraid that if painted they will look like poo, especially if hung over a section of kitchen counter where they aren’t that far out of the eye level sight line.
Carolyn, there is a product called liquid stainless steel that I have and need to try. The manufacturer sent me a free sample to write about for the blog – I need to try it out and see if it would be good for situations like this (or others like it)…
Hmmm……I really like the 1st one for over my dining room table, but I wasn’t crazy about the color. Thanks for all the color changing suggestions! I think I’ll try it now – especially for that price!!!
Everyone – be sure to choose spray paint, or paint, specified for high temps ala lighting. Also, I am no expert on this but I would think very light coats of spray paint would be best… Maybe with a good primer first. You might also try a “lacquer” finish. Will need to be super careful re: drips.
I painted my gloss red on the outside and a gloss white on the inside. (I picked up the light that is pictured first in the image.) I wanted a bulb that would give light but not blind people. (The bulb hangs out of the fixture just a tad, so I pick one that was chrome and clear. Available at Menards, etc.) I like cheap spray paint, that when for regular applications, will stick better in my experience than any of the expensive stuff. I think my spray paint came from Walmart for under a dollar. It looks amazing over my dining room table. Im very pleased!
vintage vantage, would love to see a pic! you know, i think i will add the public uploader to this post so that readers can share what they do with these lights. i invite you to be the first!
Supper Yummy Tom Dixon “beat” inspired lighting for 30.00$ O MY !!! I just ordered all 3 but got 2 more of the larger shade #1 in the pics I hope I love em…
We bought the second pendant for our eat in kitchen area. Good quality for the price. Not crazy about the color but whenever we get around to doing something with the kitchen I’ll paint it (and even thought about drilling some small pinholes in it).
If you see these at your local menards they are totally worth it.
these are knock-offs of Tom Dixon’s lighting:
http://www.tomdixon.net/products/families/beat
I have seen these…. they are not the same quality/detail as what I see on the Dixon website, but certainly worth the price, and darn good looking.
Would love to know how that liguid stainless turns out. I am in the process of finishing my garage off in a 50′s diner theme and have been looking for a product to recreate the look of 3 stainless steel bands around the top of the walls and at $4,600 the real thing is just a little steep.