I was playing as a Khjiit assassin/thief and as much as I liked it, it just wasn't me. So I am moving toward a Nord warrior. I plan to use 1h and shield, no magic, and light armor. A bow for hunting and ranged attack but sword and shield will be my bread and butter. Smithing will be my craft of choice. In the beginning, what are the most important perks I should be focusing on? I'm thinking 1H, block, light armor, smithing, archery, in that order? I know when I first land in riverwood, I plan to stay in the area awhile and hone my smithing craft, as well as earn gold by chopping wood.

I really want to get into this character and really feel like I am living in skyrim. I will take any and all tips on living the life of a warrior in this beautiful world!

Smithing is going to be somewhat of a conflicting skill to level up for you. Though you will be playing with light-armor, and it is tempting to get the light armor perks, you will get the best light armor from the Dragon perk and the best weapons from the heavy side of Smithing. You can get Dragon armor either way, so it is your choice.

I would advise doing a good blend of adventuring while getting your smithing skill up in towns. You will need gold, so getting the skills up will help a bit and make some good cash and stuff to use for adventuring.

You'll do fine if you pay attention to all of your skills. I prefer damage output over defense output, as hitting harder means less hits, though this will make light armor and blocking harder to master. Your call on that.

Archery is good to have. Kill animals with sneak attacks to make leather. Needed for armor and weapons alike. Plus a way to kill dragons that are fly-happy.

I think you have the right idea already
been curious about using light armor + sword and board myself, maybe once I have all my core skills at 100 I'll try to level light armor, but for now Im using heavy armor and while I do feel slugish I find confort in the protection it gives me.

early on focus on 3-4 skills tops, block being the main as its the most effective offence and defence together., followed closely by one hand and armor skills. raise those up first, then think of the rest, smithing is both fun and usefull leveling up, not to mention good money from the mining left overs with the transmutation spell
restoration goes pretty well too to save consumables for tight spots, and save inventory space., its very anoying not to have a ranged capacity, but I really don t recomend leveling archery early on but unavoidable I guess (I used tons of scrolls >_<)

critical perks that you should get asap is the firt 1-2 extra block points and the time slowdown on heavy attack when blocking one directly after it, this skill alone makes shield vastly superior to any other melee skill/perk

Alchemy has healing,poisons and some vey nice elemental resistances that should come in very handy for a warrior.
If your primarily useing 1 handed and block,I would put perks into alchemy before archery.Or at least at the same time.

With the build I have I mind, would you say heavy armor is better that light?

Do a lot of 1h warriors go with heavier armor? Do they still use a shield and block? What's the consensus around skyrim?

Heavy armor will take you a long way and is something I would highly recommend if you are going the nord/one handed/sheild build. Juggernaut and Conditioning are my primary goals, mixed with block and one handed, along with a few points in restoration to make me an effective paladin. You will walk through anything and come out shining. If you are specializing in one handed you need the survivability of heavy armor to be in range. Once you level it properly, you will be just as mobile as any light armor.

You really don't need Heavy Armor when specializing in Shield , Light Armor is better with Shield skills. Heavey Armor needed for a Two-Hand weapon Warrior or maybe a Dual Weapon Specialist. That's my take anyway.