Living away from the city rush, surrounded by nature, is pure bliss. But there is one catch: when night falls, the yard turns pitch black. You literally can’t see a thing. At some point, I got tired of it and thought: it’s time to flood this yard with light.
I chose the wall of the outbuilding as the installation spot. I ruled out basic, ugly construction floodlights immediately — that’s just not my style. I wanted to find something sleek that would blend harmoniously with the aesthetic of the wooden facade while powerfully illuminating the surrounding area.
After a long search, I picked the Lutec Qubo architectural lights. The manufacturer proudly claimed an 18W output.
But as it usually goes with country life, there were surprises. When the boxes arrived, it turned out that they are actually 15W instead of 18W (delivering 3000K and 13000 Lumens). However, looking back, this “marketing trick” didn’t really hurt the quality of the light — they are bright as hell, and the wooden facade looks absolutely stunning in the warm 3000K spectrum.
By the way, for the safe installation of all this beauty, I unboxed my new insulated Bosch VDE tool set, which I wrote about in detail in this post: [Link to the Bosch post]. Working with outdoor electricity using tools like these is pure pleasure.
I bought the lights from 1A.EE for 38 euros a piece. Funny thing: they were noticeably more expensive in K-RAUTA, even though both stores actually share the same corporate owner. Go figure their pricing logic.
And of course, what’s automation without some efficiency? To avoid flipping the switch manually every evening, I installed a TESATEK dusk-to-dawn sensor from Bauhof. It costs 9.99 euros in-store, though if you order online, you might squeeze out a few cents of extra savings. Now, everything runs on autopilot: sun goes down, lights turn on.
I am extremely happy with the final result. The fixtures look very aesthetic and neat on the wooden facade during the day, and the nighttime brightness is more than enough to guarantee I won’t trip over my own feet in the yard. The darkness has officially surrendered!
