In-sensed

Why is it that the ideas that are so simple in my head are so hard to execute in reality?

When we bought the house over a year ago, we inherited some atrocious exterior lighting.  The lighting situations at our front and back door were baaaaad, and neither served their purpose.  While the front light was replaced a few months ago, we've been limping along with the back light.

Our weenie little carriage sensor light (insert gag sounds here!) was barely sensing motion anymore, and if/when it did sense movement it would then stay on for hours!

The crooked, brassy-ness wasn't much of a big selling feature either!

 

Recently our sweet next door neighbour, mentioned in passing that our light was on all night the night before.... was everything ok..........  H and I got her hint, it was time for an upgrade.

We sat down and made our "must have" list:

1. Motion activated
2. Retro, Modern, or Contemporary styling (simple, clean lines)
3. Silver (chrome, nickle, aluminum...) or white preferably

After scouring our local DIY stores and online resources for an affordable option, we came up empty handed, why is it that they thing we all want either Carriage lights, Asian fusion, industrial (like factory industrial? Not cool industrial)??  I mean seriously, they are "same same but different".

And why the heck are all the cool ones I found online from the UK?!  And why does the UK have to have different voltage than N America, making them not usable (and not shipping here! And not sure if they would work here?!) Arg!!

 

sources:  pic 1, pic 2

The best N.American solutions I can find for us and our house's style are these

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None of which are not really what we are looking for.....  Or these contraptions to convert a light to motion sensing?!  Seems a bit sketchy to me!


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Because of the neighbour proximity and energy usage, we really don't want to have to go for a night sky (on from dusk till dawn) option -- which Murphy's law do come in some nicer designs! We are willing to up the budget for the right light (vs. an okay "for now" light), but are darned if we can find them.  So, having exhausted the web and our local stores do any of you know of any retro/contemporary/modern sensor light sources that may fit the bill?   If yes, please, please share!