I used to have a streetlight that beamed into my front room.

I did some research on the type of streetlight, bought a security bit that was the right fit to unscrew the access panel near the base, and ripped out the big fuse that lives there. Put the panel back in place. The city never fixed it. If they did I would have taken that fuse too

When I was a kid we had a way of disabling streetlights with no tools. We learned that if you get one kid on either side of it, and push-pull it at the right frequency, you can get it to oscillate in a feedback pattern until the top of the lamppost was shaking back and forth so hard the globe would shatter.

Even if we ignore the possible legal trouble of modifying street fixtures without permission, building anything that can hold up out in the wind and rain is going to be a big task. Getting it up there safely is going to be a challenge. Making sure it’s secure so the next puff of wind doesn’t send it down on someone’s head, maybe even yours, will be another challenge. I’ll make a recommendation for ‘blue tack’ and some heavy cardstock or plastic in front of the windows. The blue can hold for years, but leaves zero marks, and the right material could be chosen to allow whatever amount of light through, anything from all to none. Project boards like kids use for school presentations could be great. They can be cut easily to whatever shape the window is, painted or drawn on for decorative purposes, and even offer a little bit of extra insulation.

Don’t use duct tape, if you rent, the adhesive hardens and will get left behind. Using like packing tape or maybe something professionals use would be better. If the door is metal, they make magnetic curtain rods, we use them on our doors but there will be a limit to the weight of the curtain it can support. Paint on the windows may work, and scraping it off later should work, but is a pain and can scratch the glass.

lantern

What kind of lantern? Is it like a bulb/tube (point/linear source of light), with or without reflector, or a 2D LED array? Is it in a transparent or translucent cover?

Edit: the duality between “lol get curtains” and helpful things is great. But! I can’t put up curtains on the windows the light floods in - it’s the front door and the sort of side window beside the front door.

I also didn’t want to put holes in the wall, so I got command strips (those little stick-on / pull-off hooks) and used them to hang my curtains. If the way it looks bothers you, you could hang a piece of decorative cloth in front or back of the curtain.

The local government or utility may be able to help. Several lights in my area have shutter shades on them that help control sideways/upwards light and keep the beam focused on the ground. It’s called “light intrusion” when someone else shine slight into your property

Any of these cardboard cutouts should work.

My neighbor put an aluminum/metal thing beneath the lamp. He lives in a flat at the same level of the lamp so it makes sense. I don’t know how he reached there tho

How long have you lived there?

I grew up in the sticks where the only light pollution was either the moon or the stars.

I moved to a city for uni when I was 19, had a street light outside my window blasting it’s sodium orange glow into my room.

It took about two weeks before I was used to it and didn’t even realise it was there

Try to reason with the local govt. If you’re lucky, the people at the local planning dept or whoever is in charge of public properties will find your inquiry unusual enough to do something about it.

If you do something to the light pole, it’s only a question of when the city will restore it to its original state, not if. Blackout curtains are your friend

The duality of lemmy:

“I am SHOCKED someone would ILLEGALLY MODIFY something that ISN’T THEIRS!”

Vs

“lol firebomb time”

Legit, if you’d rather put in work to modify a street light and risk the consequences instead of putting up curtains, use old cardboard boxes cut in such a way that it drapes a long side over your house’s direction, but not long enough to impede light on sidewalks.

Less work, less cost, less chance of being arrested.

I do understand not wanting to have to use blackout curtains, as I like looking outside.

Personally I use a 100w led spotlight I made, and point it at the street light for a minute or so if I want it off. Works for a few minutes, at least.

Maybe consider curtains before vandalism.

Get blackout curtains. Wear a sleep mask.

Lights you can’t control are awful. We have an insanely bright one on the corner that light pollutes so bad. Even worse now because they are horrible white LED. Warm halogen were 1000x better (youll never convince me otherwise). Same with car headlights. White led gives me a headache even when I’m the driver. I’ll take my 90s warm lights any day.

This is a corner that get like 20 cars traffic a day. A light isnt even needed. Plus its in my yard.