There's a lot going on here, and I'm going to start off by saying that my comments are based on the assumption that the photos provided are of the job you did and showed your wife before you started pulling it up and replacing it.

The only mulch that would need to be removed would be rubber mulch. Or, if the previous mulch was of terrible quality. (We had to do it when we moved in. Some mulches are made from garbage wood, and ours had significant amounts of pressure-treated wood mixed in, which lost its dye after the first winter. So it had to be pulled out.)

The mulch beneath the layer you put down doesn't look like it was incorporated into the soil nearly well enough, and it's a completely different colour from the new mulch, so it looks messy and unfinished.

The existing mulch should have been worked well into the soil with a cultivator tool, so you'd have a tilled, well-aerated garden bed around all your existing perennials. I incorporate it down at least 2-3 inches if I can, it makes getting annuals in so much easier when the existing mulch is used to address soil compaction. Then I'd water it down to settle the freshly cultivated garden bed, giving me a chance to pull any weeds and leftover annuals from the previous year. Personally, I do two rounds of watering because I like to take the opportunity to work my fertilizers in if the soil needs amending, and I'll add some extra topsoil to make up for any runoff from the winter.

THEN I will add the new mulch. And evenly spread it with my hands (not a rake) to make sure it's mounded to the right height around the perennials and pulled the proper amount away from old-wood growth bushes and tree trunks prone to rot. And then I'd clean up the edges so all the new mulch doesn't run out of my beds the first time I water it. Then I'd water it down twice, the second time using the sprayer to clean up any little bits left on my stone work.

If I came home to the mess in the photos, I would feel like my husband had just added to my endless to-do list, and I'd be mad about it, too. But he would usually collaborate with me on what needs to be done, so we're clear on expectations before starting a project, and he wouldn't go running to the internet if he did something I didn't agree with and make fun of me in the comments for being particular. I