Here they used pachysandra ground cover instead of mulch or stone which grows in shade or sun.

You can eliminate most of your mulch use by using ground cover plantings like the green vinca used here.

    This is a nice way to use red tipple stone rather than mulch. It makes a nice contrast to the light colored stone wall. You want to put landscape fabric under the stone to prevent weeds and to allow water to penetrate for your plants.

This is an example of the use of colored mulch. Some people like to add color in this way rather than the brown mulch.

When you have any type of pavement bordering your bed, you want to dig an edge about 2 inches down and have the soil and mulch curve down to the edge of the pavement.

When you want to make a bed you can use marker paint to mark the shape of the bed. After you remove the grass you put in topsoil mixed with peat moss. You want to use a flat "D' handle square sharp spade shovel to make a clean straight flowing edge around 3 inches or so deep. You want the soil and mulch to curve down to the bottom of the edge so you can see the 3 inches of edge. This will give a defined edge and you want to turn your weed whacker upward so that you can shave the 3 inch edge for a clean sharp manicured look. 

This bed really beautifies what would have been a plain grass hill. They should have left out the front row of shrubs to allow room to plant some bright colorful annual flowers.