Landscaping ideas for my skeleton of a shrub bed.

Hey folks of /r/landscaping

First time poster but I'm enjoying what I see in the sub so far. Recently I paid a guy to come over and basically remove about 5 or 6 dead shrubs from the previous owner's landscaping project. The house we bought was owned by an elderly lady who just let things get away from her. They used red lava rock and pavers around the border. I don't believe the pavers were put in to deter water, since there isn't really much water coming into the area now that all of that has been removed. You can see in this picture there's a spot where water collects when we get a good rain, but it doesn't puddle for more than an hour or two. And I figure after we get this area smoothed out into an even slope and mulched, it won't be an issue.

I'm wondering if you all wouldn't care to recommend a few shrubs and steps to tackle this project. I hear weed tarp is a bad idea, and I tend to agree. The weeds growing into the old tarp made it unsalvageable any way. I figure at least 2 inches of mulch should prevent most weeds from being able to grow.

A few facts about my location:

1. We're in Zone 7 in West Virginia. We see hot summers and cold (sometimes brutal) winters.
2. I'm not sure of my soil type but maybe the pictures will help someone here identify it. We do have some leftover rocks and dead leaves I intend to rake out. I will also be cutting that ground cover back a bit more. We'll be keeping the healthy looking shrub and the tree.
3. These pictures are of the front and left side of our home. They experience about 8 hours of sun per day. These pics were taken at 5:00PM; the house faces Southwest. So the left side gets much less light than the front.
4. Our budget is flexible. We could spend upward of $750 if need be. But if you all recommend more, then maybe we could just do shrubs this season and wait til next season for flowers.
5. I'm not a novice; don't mind to hurt my back with laying mulch and spreading soil. My inexperience comes with design and picking the right plants.

My wife loves blue hydrangeas so if anyone thinks that would be doable in the corner where the left side and front of the house meet, that'd be great. I was also thinking of planting a line of boxwood shrubs in here, but not sure how that would look with the design. And for the record, I do not mind covering up that window. It'll be replaced eventually like all the others, but I could live without it being exposed.

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