Truewish, there are so very many plants and ideas you could go for i would suggest looking through the books again because the answers will be in them :-)
You need to work out what you like to look at, whether you want colour and interest all year, flowers or no flowers .... look for the Expert range of books .... The Flower Expert, The Flowering Shrub Expert and The Evergreen Expert.
Identify what you like and then ask some more questions here.

Hi Truewish you ll get lots of helpful advice I m sure here , a photo would help and perhaps some idea of what sort of garden you d like how much time you have to devote to it you may have family needs areas for children etc

Its perhaps easiest for you to decide what you do and dont like to narrow suggestions to appropriate comments.You may wish to change the layout of your garden before even considering plants ..

If you want your garden to look good, have a look at evergreen and deciduous shrubs - depending on the size of your garden, they come in a range of sizes (sounds like a shoe shop, lol), but these are essential as the backbone or skeleton of your garden. These should be positioned first, really, and then perennial flowering plants, bulbs, etc., added after. And another tip - ignore flowers for the time being, select your shrubs in particular for their leaf colour, shape, size, variegation, berries, deciduous, evergeen, etc., and think about the flowers later if you must. Bear in mind that any shrub which produces flowers, no matter how beautiful those flowers, will not have those flowers for at least 11 months of the year, so its what the plant looks like for that time period that's more important.

Welcome to GOY, Truewish. I've found looking at the photo section under the specific titles to be a good way of finding out what I like. It's a fun, if frustrating process to see how wonderfully creative and beautiful the members have fashioned their gardens.

I'm doing much the same as you...books out, ideas swirling around my head...and wanting it all done yesterday! lol

Good luck with your gardening plans. Have you any pictures of your garden space? That will help others to see what you have to work with.

i think most has been said but you should also think weather your going to live in your house a long time or not and what you want from your garden . another thing is to bring your interier tastes outside . its good to get a scrap book or file and just everything you like put it in there . then pick your faverites out of them . sometimes its importent to give a garden or big project some thaught . you dont want to be thinking i wish i could of had that different . maybe get something big like a pond,sculpture or large feacture shrub that you realy like . this often inspires you to think of the rest .also look in your nieghbers and see what grows well that you like .