How do I do this?

Hello, I am wanting to color my naturally medium brown hair to a dark ash/natural blonde and then have lots of highlights added in, but I'm not really sure how I should go about this. I really cannot afford to go to the salon but am desperate for a change. I've always usually colored my hair at home and done highlights before, so I've had quite alot of experience coloring my own hair with good results. I have used the loreal professional type kits before to do this double process type thing but wasnt happy with the product itself. So now I'd like to know what the best type of products are to use for this and how to go about it. Do I need to bleach it first, then use a permanent color to get it the nice dark ashy blonde, and then put highlights on? It has to be permanent, I dont want it to fade out and look orange!! Is there a color that will lift it enough to the dark blonde? I've heard good things about Redken, does anyone have any advice on these products, do they come out darker than expected? I have used clairol products that were like that,I had once used a dark blonde that came out medium brown! My hair is very healthy also, it hasnt been colored in a very long time and I get cuts every couple months so I know my hair will be able to take all the colorings. Thank you in advance!! :-)

Here is an advocate of Redken. She asks to please put questions in her comments section & is showing setup of how to do bleach on a head...

http://killerstrands.blogspot.com/