Post lamp

A Prairie style lamp was special-ordered for $200. I splurged.

Lighting control is trick. The daylight sensor powers up when it's dark outside and powers down when it's light. However, I didn't want to keep the lamp on all night, even though it uses just one 25W incandescent, which, by the way, is the ideal brightness for these exterior-type lamps. (Lights of America makes an equivalent 5W compact fluorescent with standard twist-on base, available at Walmart).

So I went the full nine yards and got a $30 Intermatic timer switch (from Home Depot). It installs as a wall switch (replaces a standard switch), giving me full control from inside the house. I set the switch to turn on at about 3PM, which powers up the lamp, but the light won't go on yet because the daylight sensor keeps it off until it's dark.

The effect of this combination in switches is that it lights up at dusk and switches off via timer at midnight. Perfect.

Total cost of complete installation: about $420.