Your choices and ideas are good ones.
Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Shade Gardening

Bleeding heart can get REALLY BIG in a short period of time (depending on cultivar), so plan accordingly.

If you want super-easy, you can't go wrong with hosta plants. If you want to keep things small, get a mini or dwarf hosta, or you'll be dividing every year or two. (Wish someone had given me THAT advice when I first got started with my hosta garden... I started out with too many plants too close together, and the second year my hosta bed looked like a jungle! I divided things up and was able to supply half the neighborhood with hosta divisions! LOL)

I started rimming my hosta garden with impatiens, and I really like the contrast of the bright colored border in front of my mini-jungle.

Stranger, thanks for the link.
Imahockeymom, I didn't realize that bleeding hearts get big. I have one dicentra spectabilis tuber from I potted for now; it hasn't done anything yet -- I hope it survives.