Needing a certain kind of shrub...please help!

I live in Northeast TN and we have all four seasons of very different weather. Summers as hot as 99 degrees and winters as cold as 0. We have a pre-civil war log home with beautiful stonework for the foundation and the porch. The people that lived there before us spent a fortune on landscaping but never maintained it and it had grown up and was overtaking the house. So....we have pulled everything up and started fresh. I am not replacing everything just a few in the front and maybe a couple of things around the side but we don't want anything that is going to get too big because we want to show off the gorgeous stonework that is a contrast to the hand hewn logs.

I am NOT a gardener! I am excellent with four legs, hooves, fur, and a heartbeat but but not with plants. lol I have no green thumbs! So therefore I need something relatively easy. I also have five dogs and a three yr old so it needs to be tough.
As far as looks go I would like to have something that really pops and has alot of contrast. My neighbors have done well with the bamboo nandina, which I think I will use to get that pretty bright light green color but for the other I'm not so sure. I want something that is a deep burgandy or red color. I think someone mentioned the barberry but said it was hard to trim because of it sticking ya.
Last but not least I really don't want to spend a whole lot of money on this little makeover.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

definitely barberry, it isn't hard to trim. It is hard to pick up the trimmings, but just wear leather gloves. They come in various shades of red, one of mine has pink new growth and red old growth. There is also a golden variety I grow. The contrast of gold and burgundy works well and they play off each other.

If you cannot find a golden barberry locally, try yellow privet.

Toss in a few upright blue juniper varieties, and maybe a sambucus black lace, and you'll have a great color scheme to work with. All of these items are hardy and vigorous and your only maintenance will be pruning to control growth.

All those plants too, other than the juniper, are very fast growing, so you can buy smaller specimens at the nursery and let them grow up in your yard (just plant them far enough apart).

I guess I will go with the barberry then thanks. If my little boy or the dogs get into it and get stuck by it then I garauntee they will only get in it once. LOL

Thanks

Also I have apple cherry and plum trees in my front yard. Last year the plum tree produced wonderfully and they were DELICIOUS, but this year they have produced but have had this yucky spore looking stuff on them and have fallen off early. I'm puzzled. I haven't done anything different, actually I haven't done anything period. I didn't last year either. is there something I can do so that it won't happen next year? I was so looking forward to having my delicious plums again this summer. :-(

Burning bush, hydrangea, holly, rhododendron and azalea are all beautiful bushes and easy to grow. Also consider evergreen bushes in all shapes and colors.

Rose White, Author
“Easy Gardens A to Z”