Landscaping Woes

I am a self-professed do-it-yourself kind of girl. I was always taught if no one is there to help, figure it out yourself, so usually I do. Thanks to the help and inspiration from my neighbor Lesley- who has an amazing green thumb- I have really gotten into caring for my lawn. I have replaced our pine straw back 'yard' with an evergreen garden of arborvitae trees, lambs' ear, and phlox. But the corner of our back lot, I'm convinced, will be the end of me. It mainly consists of a huge tree stump and dirt. And when it rains it becomes a weed jungle. I have hesitated to landscape it because it is technically not our property but no one owns the house next door yet and I have to take action immediately. So here is a BEFORE picture of what it looks like now...

Yikes! Don't you just  love how our builder left the old chain link fence posts! I have removed all the weeds and will be removing the posts this weekend. This is the plan:

1. Re-dig the trench for the drain pipe, and fill with river rocks to aid in the drainage issue.
2. Plant an arborvitae  tree next to the house.
3. Fill in area around the tree stump with juniper plants to assist with erosion.
4. Transplant some of my lambs' ear to the side of the house to dress the arborvitae.

I'll post the after pictures when it is complete. Wish me luck!