When Michele D'Anna and her twin children were younger, they would go to paint-your-own pottery regularly as a family. 

When one of their favorite places, the Clay Station in Ellicott City, closed five years ago, the family was crushed.

"When they closed, I was crying," the Catonsville resident said. But D'Anna had in the back of her mind that she would love to run her own pottery studio one day.

Years later, that dream is becoming a reality. D'Anna is set to open the Pottery Cove at 825 Frederick Road. The storefront is behind Catonsville Gourmet.

She had been looking for a space for a few years when she saw the small building tucked behind the 800 block of Frederick Road.

"When I saw the 'for rent' sign I knew this was it," she said.

D'Anna signed the lease for the building in mid-February and has been working in the evenings and weekends to get the store ready for a tentative April 13 opening.

While she doesn't have a background in art or pottery, D'Anna plans to take  workshops. She has also hired two college students with art and pottery backgrounds to help run the shop. D'Anna will keep her full-time job at the Johns Hopkis University Applied Physics Lab.

The store will have parties and special events in addition to typical paint-your-own pottery offerings.