Most neighbor disputes should be manageable if you just talk to them.

But every now and then, a seemingly minor annoyance sticks around long enough to inspire ingenious solutions.

In this case, a homeowner who moved to a quiet neighborhood quickly realized his peaceful bedroom came with one major downside: an incredibly bright floodlight from the neighboring property that stayed on around the clock.

He tried the amicable approach first, reaching out to the property’s owner.

When that went nowhere, he came up with a plan B that is also amicable, as long as they never find out what he really did.

Check out the full story below.

Look at me; I’m the Light Captain now

So my wife and I moved in to a house a little over a year ago. Plenty of space, nice backyard, and a great little secluded neighborhood.

We are neighbors to a house that’s been converted into a 3 or 4 family apartment/house.

There’s a handful of random entrances, one of them being on the side of the home where the driveway is.

That side is also the same side where my bedroom window at the head of our bed is. So that bedroom window looks down on their driveway/apartment door.

That became an issue.

There’s a few trees between our house and there’s, but in total it’s probably 40-50 feet, and the tree cover isn’t very thick.

The problem is, they have a double floodlight above the door. Sort of like the one that would be above a 4-car driveway.

It’s incredibly bright and it is ALWAYS on. ALWAYS. It never turns off, not even during the day.

So there are nights over the past several weeks where I’ve woken up and the light is blaring into our bedroom window.

The floodlights are not aimed directly at our window, but they’re bright enough to shine through.

It really bothers him and nobody else cares.

I reached out to the owner of the home to see if he could connect with the tenant just to advise them to turn the light off at night.

I’m all for safety, but your car is immediately outside the door. It truly doesn’t need to be on 24/7 – no response.

Weeks and months go by and I weigh my options, and as I was installing some smart lights around my home – the idea hit me.

I snuck over to their home one night and replaced the floodlights with two Smart Flood Lights and connected those to my home hub.

I left them as is for a few weeks to see if that person would notice, and to nobody’s surprise, they didn’t.

That’s when I turned on the automation. Every night at 10pm (my bedtime), the lights turn off. Each morning at 5am shortly before they head off to work, the lights turn back on.

I can now sleep in a peacefully dark bedroom and control the lights without them knowing.

What can I say? The guy is proactive.

What did Reddit think?

Important observation.

That’s a good question.

Something to consider.

Me too!

I agree,

My first thought, to be honest.

The problem with blackout curtains is that if you like waking up to natural daylight… well, you can’t.

I liked his solution.

Rather than escalating the situation into an argument or retaliating with brighter lights of their own, he quietly solved the problem in a way the neighbors didn’t even seem to notice.

Of course, secretly replacing someone else’s property without them noticing raises a few questions.

Still, it’s one of those stories where a common neighborhood annoyance takes an unexpectedly clever turn, proving that sometimes people come up with inventive ways to restore a little peace and quiet, even if their methods are unconventional.

His solution was quite Matilda coded and that’s always entertaining.