My neighbor said my backyard lighting looked like a prison yard, and he was not wrong

Linda Dixon · 2026-10-16T14:30:07.429942+00:00

I put up six of those bright white LED flood lights around my back fence last fall because I wanted the yard lit up for the dog at night. My neighbor Dave came over in February and just said, flat out, 'it looks like a Walmart parking lot back here.' At first I was annoyed, but then I sat out there one evening and yeah, it was harsh and flat with zero shadows anywhere. So I swapped the two lights by the patio for warm 2700K bulbs and put them on a dimmer, then aimed the four fence lights down at the ground instead of straight out. Cost me about $40 in new bulbs and one Saturday afternoon on a ladder, and now the yard feels like a place you want to sit instead of a place you get interrogated. Anyone else get blunt feedback from a neighbor that ended up being right?

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My neighbor said my backyard lighting looked like a prison yard, and he was not wrong | Backyard Upgrades - Thought Shares