@crossroads and @mirith thanks for the help. I have since researched a bit about multiplexing and its starting to make some more sense...essentially I am creating an LED matrix (something that for some reason only just occurred to me)
@mirith - Is a wall wart just like a cell phone charger or something like that? Does this go straight into my arduino? If so then i think blackberry or apple charger could just plug right in using the usb slot.
A quick note: The installation has now grown in size to 120 LEDs - presumably I just need to daisy chain drivers/registers together depending on how many they can power?
@crossroads - I dont think i will need anymore color choices than what is standard. It seems as if that would just make it more complicated and with my time frame and limited knowledge, I am more focused on just getting the piece to function - in truth, the exact colors are somewhat arbitrary so don't really matter too much
*Apologies is any of this is totally wrong/doesn't make sense!