I thought I was pretty clear. Most of the neighbors on the street, who did not move to a not-quite-rural stretch of New England by accident, seem to think they live in the Cleveland suburbs and want to light every dark corner even though things like acreage, forests and neighbors who moved to the generally DARK woods represent hurdles to this downtown/Levittown goal.
We have one stretch of our surrounding view that was still dark. This neighbor, who has never quite seemed comfortable with anything about living here, has now installed about two dozen LED yard lights that provide no useful light at all - even with a clear line of sight, all you can see is the glowing blob of the lamp. His property rises and falls and he has an elevated deck, so the lights just form this weird constellation of UFOs in what was the last sweep of dark/moonlit woods that are pretty much the signature nighttime view in this region.
I would be just as exasperated but comprehending if he lit up his yard like the others, but these faint blob-lights serve no functional purpose at all. They just ‘decorate’ in no particular style and to no useful end.
And - wait for it - if this guy and his family have ever set foot outside their house after sundown, I’ve failed to notice it. (Ever. Really.) So the lights (which are almost completely randomly distributed - they don’t light up paths or doorways or walkways or anything) are just “there” for everyone but that family to see.
I can tolerate neighbors doing things that are useful to them. I don’t much judge their landscaping or exterior styles or fad things or choices. But I’m not the only one here who wonders why these people move to the Big Dark Woods and try to bring downtown Philly or Wichita suburb mentality with them, and degrade the whole point of living here for everyone else.
Actually, they have. Two houses have very powerful floodlights that, in order to light the far corners of their property 250 feet out, point straight into our windows.
I have a searchlight on my property. Two, actually. They come in handy frequently. Neighbors can suck it, or I won’t fish them out of the lake after dark.
No windchimes, though. Foghorn, and a ship’s bell are both much more effective. The bell gets rung mainly on the anniversaries of the sinking of the Edmund Fitz and the Carl D. Bradley. Mainly. Also for supper.
I’m with you. I hate those stupid lights. I am however, in favour of motion detector big lights. If you want tons of lights make them motion sensors. No need to light up everyone’s yard when you’re not even in yours. Having them blast on when someone enters the yard, seems a good compromise to me.
I much prefer the dark, on my patio, or candlelight, over the glare of the neighbours, never off light.
I live in the urban core where it’s bright enough to read by the street light. Lining the front walk/garden looks just plain silly, in my opinion. I don’t really care what anyone else does at their house, but I do think they are both stupid and ugly. Right up there with wind chimes.
I kind of like them. I live in an area where there are few street lamps, and the ones we have, are a dim yellow. So the half-lights work great with these. It’s just enough to get to your home at night without blinding half the neighborhood.
But, I don’t live in the country. I imagine they’d get mighty annoying out there.
If only there were a wikipedia article written by experts in the field of illumination, property lighting and their effect on neighboring properties with cites to their work. It could all be so clear and there for us to follow.
In the dark, the slightest irregularity in the ground will leap up, grab my toe, and drag me to the ground.
Seriously, having a few of these along a path from the car to my front door makes getting home after dark much safer. My street doesn’t have any streetlights, and my pathway lighting are isn’t as bright as my neighbor’s always-on incandescent lighting for his yard. The lights stay.
I’d have had your back if your OP had been about the guy with the floodlights that shine into your yard and windows, rather than the guy with minuscule blobs of light that you can see only if you’re looking in their direction, but don’t illuminate your property at all.
Unfortunately, they also tend to blast on when a deer goes through my neighbor’s yard, or when the wind makes the tree branches blow around a bit.
My ‘compromise’ would be: use whatever lights you damn well please. But if it’s outdoors and is brighter than a 25-watt incandescent bulb, put some sort of shade over it so that the light only shines on your yard, and doesn’t shine into mine.
Mine are PRETTY! I get mason jars from goodwill or if I empty something that fits a mason/ball ring. I paint them with food coloring and modge podge or glass paint or cover them in squares of tissue paper (on the inside) or glue those colored glass stones inside. (I’ve seen people use frosted paint and mirror paint, too) I get the solar lights from the dollar store and pop the stem off. I place the jars outside my apartment door, among my plants, and in the magnolia tree. I live in the smack dab middle of town where there’s never complete darkness.
I’m with those who object to spotlights that are on routinely. I can see having one for emergencies, but I think they’re obnoxious used regularly in town. I don’t even like standard overhead light fixtures.
I like the dark, too. I hated living in apartments because it was never dark enough outside for me. The house I now occupy is much nicer in that regard, though still not as dark as the back of the beyond where I grew up. (Owls hooted in the daytime, and we kept possums for yard dogs.)
That said, I have several LED lights in my yard. They mark the corners and steps in the walk from my driveway to my door, because tripping and falling sucks. They generally cast just enough light, just long enough, to get everyone safely inside at night. Then they run out of juice and go dark. (Also, insofar as possible, I’ve placed them so that there are bushes between them and my neighbors.)
I consider this a reasonable compromise between aesthetics and intact bones.
I like the fact that they’re not exceptionally bright. I use them to provide just enough light to see by along the path between my house and my neighbours and at the edges of the steps down to the driveway.
I’m considering upgrading to ribbon lighting once they actually finish the grading and give me real actual grass instead of my current landscape of dirt.
I love LEDs of color. If you stick about 50 of 'em throughout the foliage & furniture in the back yard it’s positively magical. If I ever get a car or front lawn I give a damn about I might set up some dim ones along the driveway ala landing lights, but those would be pretty dim. As for spotlights I’m all for having the capability of lighting up the place like daytime, but such capabilities need to be under strict manual control and used infrequently–that’s just manners.
The neighbors at our lake house are nice and all, but they also seem to love their LED yard lights. On the deck. Down the deck stairs. Down the path to the lake. On their docks. On their boats. It’s much nicer in the winter when the snow covers them or the batteries don’t last as long.
The latest light-happening is the neighbor put up a 15-foot flag pole, right outside one of our windows. Since he’s not there all the time, he can’t raise and lower the flag every day so he does the next best thing, he lights it. He’s got a solar-charged battery-powered spot light strapped ten feet up on the flagpole, pointing at the flag, and it stays brightly lit all night. Good thing it’s on the opposite side of the house from my bedroom, because last night with the wind blowing and the flag flapping, it was quite the reflected light show coming through our windows.
