Restoring files from my Time Machine

Hello
I recently had to have a new Hard disk drive installed in my Macbook Pro (Mid 2010). Since i got it i have always had a Time Machine backup running on my network and i have always been able to recover the occasional file when i needed it or do a full restore when that was required.
This time instead of doing a complete restore i thought i would just reinstall mavericks, the apps i use most and then restore just the photos and documents that i wanted to from the backup.
So i installed mavericks and told it where the time machine was and it did a backup of the new installation. Now i cannot see files previous to this. All the time machine screens are blank prior to me reinstalling mavericks.
I am getting very confused as to what i have done or need to do to get back my files
Hope this makes sense and someone can help please
Thank you
Samantha

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.

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Check under the Apple in the Menu bar About this Mac > More Info
How much Memory do you have installed?
What size is our hard drive and how much free space?
You'll find the term Genius does not necessarily mean they are expert. Even on this forum, you'll find varying difference of opinions and levels of expertise.
I have read several articles saying that contemporary Macs and OSs are built such that they clean themselves up - defragmentation, general sweeping, etc.
This is true. Apps like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, Washing Machine or anything like these apps might appear to be helpful, can do too more harm than good. As a result of the 'cleanup' it can leave your Mac non-functional Mac. The forums are full of users with computers that no longer work correctly after running these so call 'cleaners'
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4171
Your Mac runs maintenance in the background for you > Mac OS X: About background maintenance tasks
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2319
I was told by the Genius, however, that there are many little files that are left lying around after installs, uninstalls, file making, and file deletion that will gum up the works.
I'm going to disagree here. Get rid of the installer from downloads after installing. After removing an app, most of the little files do no harm and take up very little space. However some applications mostly crapware/cleaners will leave files that continue to run silently in the background takeing up resources.
Don't install stuff you don't really need. There is no magic bullet to clean up your messes.

Restoring files from my Time Machine

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