Hey everyone!

I just recently bought a home in the Sandhills area of North Carolina. My husband and I are excited to do the landscaping for our front yard and a raised bed vegetable garden in the backyard but being first-time homeowners, and being new to this climate/soil, we don’t know what plants will A) tie our front yard together and hide those foundation walls and B) will happily grow in this sandy North Carolina soil.

What do you all advise? I know we need some taller shrubs in the back to hide the walls and then some flowers of various textures in front of that, but I am so clueless with styling and what colors would look best! I should also add that I have done very little gardening/landscaping in the last 10-12 years as I have lived in apartments up until now.

Things to note about our home:
-the front yard is NW-facing and we get some afternoon sun but there are also some tall pine trees immediately across the street from us
-we live in USDA Zone 8a (see, I have done some research!)
-the soil is quite sandy...similar to the coastal NC areas though we are about 2 hours inland.
-my front yard, if you couldn’t already tell from the pictures, is quite small, and has a culvert running through it. I would like to somehow make the lawn look bigger, or at least not smaller than it already is.
-I like a very natural, cohesive look and probably don’t have the expertise or time to maintain plants that require a ton of pruning and care.
-I want to do this by myself if possible and would like to spend less than $1000.

Thank you all in advance for your help! I’ve attached a picture for reference. Please don’t mind the tall grass....I was out of town for quite a while and it was raining all day yesterday.