What do you mean "the woods are a mess"? Fallen trees? Overgrowth? Or something else?
Unless you want to have your area taken over by invasive weeds, leave the fallen leaves where they are and resist the temptation to plant any "quick ground cover". You are better off doing some light woodland management if you really want to do something about it.
If you want to provide a screen for the house there are tons of hedging bushes to pick from: you need to pick what effect you want to achieve before however. A continuous cover (perhaps with room for a gate to access the woods)? Separate bushes providing continuous flowering? A more natural effect?
If you contact a landscape contractors, go through the options provided with a fine comb: most of them try to push the same hedges that will become a costly nightmare to keep in shape (Cherry laurel) or will become invasive (Pyracantha) or will have the invariable few dead plants in a couple of years (Leyland cypress).
