Our garage is right up against our alley. We wanted to define the space more and give ourselves a place to put garbage , recycling bins and  and more space to park in. We also just wanted to have a bit safer feeling area since we are right on the alley.I unfortunately do not have a true before pic. dang it! 

The area where the new cement is used to be just dirt with a huge bush.

We had a guy come and get the bush and all its roots out. It had basically turned into a tree.

Then we dug up all the grass, weeds and dirt.  We dug down about 4 inches. flattened it out and then put down gravel and sand. We placed a wooden frame made out of left over 1 x 4's, that delineated the area were we wanted the cement pad to be.We then mixed cement in a wheel barrel and slowly poured it in and smoothed it out.

We let it cure and removed the boards and ta da!

Unfortunately we had a guy come and haul some junk away for us a few days later and he drove over it and it cracked. tears!

We should of made the cement much thicker, but since that one crack- its held up great.

We put up a nice horizontal fence and this area works great now. We stained the fence a few weeks later:)

as you can see we had to break up some of the cement to get the fence in. Next time fence first!

and why I didn't match the height to the fence behind it, is beyond me?!