The dollar store is normally a ripoff.  It's quite easy to spend more on $1 lights than another rectangle.  Only got 6 of the $1 bulbs.  They have Sunbeam & Brichips.  The Sunbeams have 16 LEDs in series, running directly on manes voltage with a rectifier, a BP5131h linear regulator, & no caps, so it's just clipping the peaks.    The Brichips have 11 LEDs in series, running on 60V.   Neither lasts very long on manes voltage.

The Sunbeams are a lot more work to convert, but put out more light.  Through Chinese patience, the traces can be cut, ground, & resoldered to take 17V.  On the Brichips, 2 LEDs can be smashed to reduce it to 17V.

This way, multiple bulbs can be stuck on a strip & powered by a single 17V supply.  The design had evolved to random strips of LEDs on the ceiling, where floor lamps used to be, in addition to the giant rectangle.  

Scotch mounting squares are smaller versions of the same thing that existed 20 years ago, for 1000% the price.  They're so far effective at sticking LEDs to the ceiling.  The light from the LEDs actually hides most of the wiring.  

To this day, China still doesn't provide strips suitable for sticking on a ceiling, but it's obviously the future.

Not all the LEDs survived the rework, but the random arrays left over had a certain alien look.  Smashing random LEDs would make it more artistic, but expensive.  A simple transistor dropper reduced 19V to 16.5V.

It was finally bright enough to replace the floor lamps.

For the next revision, the rectangle should be a square & farther from the wall.  The square should be doubled up instead of relying on extra strips.