Just starting out - advice please?

Hey guys. I've recently lost a couple of stone in weight so I am now weighing supposedly what I am supposed to weigh for my sex, age, height etc etc. I now would like to tone up a bit. Nothing too much, I'm not expecting to look like Arnie or anything, just want to look a little better shape so I don't look like a slob come summer. So I've decided to buy myself some dumbbells.
I've looked up some exercises online to see what the main ones are I should be doing and I think I like the look of 8 - bench press, bicep curl, shoulder press, tricep kickback, kneeling one arm row, lateral raise, lying fly and upright row (I'm assuming these all mean something to you lot! I am not a fitness guy by any means).

Any advice on the amounts of weights I should start with and how long I should wait until I increase or is this very specific to the person? Any advice on how often I should be working out and how much rest in between workouts etc? Or how many reps and sets?
I don't have a work out bench so I'm also a little unsure how I'm going to get round some of the exercises.
Basicly any advice you can give to a complete novice would be most welcome.

Cheers.

If you were to type in these questions on google you'd get all the advice you need Mate..

Yeah I realise that Truss, thanks so much for your help.
I was kind of hoping for a more well rounded and personal answer but never mind.

I think it depends what you want to achieve. Reps wise for size they say try and keep the reps between 6-12 I usually do 4-5 sets per exercise but I guess you just learn as you go along... There is loads on the Internet that gives good advice too, maybe get yourself a bench if you're training at home theyre not that expensive. Good luck!

All those exercises you've listed are upper body exercises.
Also I'd advise building a foundation of core strength rather than isolating small muscles - like bicep curls or lying flys for example. Exercises where the whole body is working in some way are more beneficial at this stage, for example press-ups, which embrace the core, are a better idea than a bench press.
At the end of the day, you only really need four types of exercises: a press, a row, a deadlift, and a squat.

Begin with low weight until you get more proficient in performing the exercises correctly, then you can add weight gradually.
I'd start out with 8-15 reps for the same reason. Try to keep rest time to about 30s. 3-4 sets per exercise and 15-20 sets in total.

Thanks for the good advice guys. I'm only interested in upper body at the moment as my legs are quite well built as it is, always have been, not sure why.
I was planning to add press ups and sit ups to the work out anyway.

If you want to tone up as you say you need to burn fat while retaining muscle. Training legs will allow you to burn additional calories compared to just doing upper body exercises. Look at doing some squats, lunges, straight leg deadlifts, squat jumps & calf raises.

Keep your protein intake high.

Never ever neglect Squats! Stick to the compound exercises.

Try stronglifts.com