How about ostrich ferns? You can eat the fiddleheads in spring and throughout the rest of the season they provide a nice shrub-like effect. We have a terrible time with deer eating plants and they have never eaten ostric ferns.

I just put in mountain laurel....'ELF' It has been here about three seasons, this season it is about to flower, it is in bud now. Compact shrubs, nice leaf pattern, little maintenance and seems to love the shade I have mine in. It is along my north western foundation. It gets some sun, but not much. Mostly bright indirect light. So far, the deer haven't touched it, although they did get the azalea next to it. I have a double row of hosta in front of the shrubs. It looks neat, tidy. I may move the azalea and add two more of the 'Elf' I wanted to test them out before I bought more..I am satisfied that it is ok for my foundation..good luck...I don't know how much the butterflies and birds will be attracted to it. This is my first flowering season, so I am not sure how long the blossoms last and if they attract butterlies....Good Luck, there are lots of great ideas here on the GW....JoAnn

Sadly, I have had no luck with ferns in that area, I think the area drains too quickly.

The mountain Laurel sounds like a good idea, extra color impact too!

Lavender (english for our zones, "munstead") would get to be about 18"-24" x same when mature. It would be very pretty against your butter color house, and I don't know the deer to eat it; we have significant experience with deer. It would be very pretty with an orange color flower like a day lily, or a stella doro ( I think if deer ate these they might not be in ditches everywhere), or a california poppy. both do very well if there happens to be a drought. a brightly colored thorny shrub might survive the deer as well, a barberry maybe. Lastly we have two viburnums that attract birds to their bright red fall berries, also never damaged by the deer. I sprinkle powdered garlic all over deer delicasies from fall to May, it has made a huge difference.

How about Pieris "Mountain fire"? Gorgeous red new foliage and
Lily-of-the-valley like flowers in spring. Deer proof here
but I don't seem to have the soil for it.

Clethra for fragrance and later season blooms?
Some Clematis do well in part shade, how can one have too many Clematis?
Many bulbs, Alliums, Fritillarias, Narcissi, Camassia?
Hellebores, Canadian Columbine, Jacob's ladder (the purple ones)
and many others I can't think of just now.
"My" deer leave all the above alone.
There are many lists available on deer resistant plants, here on GW too, in FAQ.
Many of those do well in shade, especially moist shade.

The deer have eaten almost every shrub I've planted, but the pieris they've left alone, and the mountain laurel only was tasted once (it's poison). They like good drainage but need moisture. My neighbor's bridal veil spirea looks like it's never been eaten, either. He has a whole hedge of them.

I've found that if you put up barriers and spray until trees and shrubs get taller than browsing height, the deer will leave them alone. I have a forsythia that's been nubbed to the ground for 8 years, but the huge stand next door isn't touched. (We put up a barrier finally). Same with my lilacs and wild rose. They're browsed low down, but the flowers up high are gorgeous.

One plant that looks great all summer is euphorbia. Deer don't eat it here. There are many kinds in all leaf colors from red to green. The one I have (I believe it's polychroma) has stunning chartreuse flower heads in spring. It's a low mounding, shrub-like plant that takes up a few feet of space. Very pretty.