Ugly backyard area with no sun and hard ground. What can I do?

My backyard is all shade now and I can't get any grass to grow. We have a low deck that steps down into dirt now. I covered it with more pinestraw so I wouldn't have to look at dirt. Thought about tearing down the deck and building some sort of hardscape, but it seems expensive. The ground is extremely hard now and downright ugly. I would love ideas that are cost effective and would be pretty to look at.