some ideas:

I love purple anything and blue spruce!!! I like both designs...the first one is maybe a bit more than I would do in one year, but I like the overall look. I like the shape of option 2 and the purple focal point, what is that? What is the white plant in option 1 - spirea? What are the blue/green bushes in option 1 - juniper?

You can do a lovely landscape using plants that thrive in shade. Bigroot geranium, toad lilly, Ajuga, hosta, lungwort, coridalis, lamium, epimedium, brunera, astilbe, hellebore, japenese ferm grass, bunchberry, variegated sedge, and many more. Search Zone 4 shade plants. Some flower and seed vendors catalogs show detailed plant lists to create shade gardens. Determine what you like, and then work with a local landscaper or purchase yourself and install your garden.

I don't know what plants do best in your area, so it would be up to you, H.U., to observe what plants that grow there could do it. My suggestions are organizational and arrangement brainstorming for you, not specific plants. But look into Russian Sage and see if that's a possibility.