HELP!

[edanb8]

Morning, I am new to gardening and have no real clue what I am doing.
Please see a picture of my front garden. I am looking for shrubs, I guess to fill in the front garden and make the garden look nice.
We have spent some money on all year round plants but unfortunatley they keep dying.
Lastly, our grass keeps having loads of weeds in it, and we were wondering how we make it lovely and green and fresh like most people when you walk past it.
Any help would be amazing.
See picture of front garden,

 

[pepper]

I probably won't be much help but only thing I notice is it looks dry. Does it get much water? You could also try putting on some lawn fertilizer. For weeds I don't like using weed control products like roundup so I just keep mowing them down but that's just me. If it doesn't get enough water you could put out a sprinkler. Also whatever you plant you should water, especially until the roots get adjusted.