A few initial thoughts:
Firstly, do be careful with bamboo! It can get very rampant if planted in the ground, but it works quite well in pots also.
Secondly, do you have any plants or trees that you want to keep? Try to plan your garden around those.
Patios can look sterile, but big pots (the bigger the better as in summer you end up having to water small pots all the time) will really help, you can even do succession planting in them, i.e. daffodils, tulips and lilies to see you through to mid summer, with maybe some foliage plants and annuals like nasturtiums, marigolds and geraniums added to fill gaps (all very easy and cheap to grow).
If you keep some parts of the garden patio free, then I suggest digging in (or getting a gardener in to dig for you) plenty of well rotted manure or similar before you plant. If you have a problem with weeds, put down thick cardboard or an old carpet over the area in question for a month or two to kill them off first. Then dig in. This will give whatever you do plant a really good start.
Regarding plants, that is a really difficult question as it very much depends on your personal preference. It sounds like you're not very interested in gardening, so choose easy to maintain things.
The Royal Horticultural Society have an amazing website with lots of very helpful information and advice, they even have some very useful pages on garden planning.
I suggest you start there.
Good luck - let us know how it goes, but be warned, gardening can become addictive!