Actually I would recommend using Mod Organizer instead of NMM. It's pretty much superior. It includes most of the important tools like BOSS, or some features of Wrye Bash, so you have everything in one tool. Mod Organizer doesn't put any files in your Skyrim-folder, and keeps it completely clean. And it has a few other nice features. You can use the direct download from the Nexus with it as well. You can always use the steam workshop together with Nexus-mods, but the best way is to search for them on the Nexus and if you find them, redownload them and unsubscibe on the workshop and delete them. The Workshop really isn't that great. When it comes to graphic mods you have to decide if you want to use an ENB, or mods like realistic lighting overhaul, enhanced lights and FX. ENB has a high performance-cost, but generally looks the best. SkyUI is pretty much essential. It changes the UI to be much easier to use on a PC, and adds a modmenu many mods use, so you can configure a lot of mods ingame. For the water get Realistic Water Two, for blood enhanced blood textures. I also recommend using mods for textures. Skyrim HD 2k textures, Flora Overhaul, Lush Trees and grass. But note that some of these mods are performancehungry. From my experience if you want to use the Flore Overhaul, you should get the memory patch - which is included in the new SKSE-version, and just needs an entry in the SKSE.ini to work. There are tutorials out there on how to do that (Get SKSE, a lot of mods require it to work). Warburgs 3D paper world map is a very cool replacer for the map (Keep in mind, that you should alway keep Warburgs at the bottom of the loadorder) or if you don't like the paper look there's "a quality world map". I also recommend using Static Mesh Improvements if you have a strong PC. Now I'm not sure if that's the type of mods you are searching for, but I always recommend trying out some of the immersion-mods: Frostfall which implements camping gear into the game, and the challenge of being able to freeze to death in cold areas, Realistic Needs and Diseases or iNeeds (iNeeds is still being updated, so you should probably get this). I recommend using Minimal HUD and or Immersive HUD. Instead you could use Less Intrusive HUD, but it's far more time consuming to configure, and it has a few problems. Also there is a few Overhauls. If you want the game to be a real challenge, get Requiem. Or alternatively SkyRe, which is cool as well, but not quite as much of a challenge. For armors and weapons, get Immersive Armors and Immersive Weapons. It's a huge collection of new items. Convenient horses is a must-have. You can find a lot of great mods, just by browsing through the Nexus.