The owner and creator of The Mixx and Caffetteria Modern Cafe takes us inside her Weston retreat

Jo Marie Scaglia’s Weston home is a testament to her talent for repurposing. 

“I prefer to buy old things and redo them,” Scaglia says. “Everything has a story. Everything has meaning. A lot of it is nostalgic to me. That’s the inspiration for when I do a home.”

Scaglia, the restaurateur behind The Mixx at the Plaza and in OP and Caffetteria Modern Cafe in Prairie Village, purchased her charming 1922 home in 2020 and transformed it into a sanctuary filled with unique finds and personal touches. She sourced most of the decor from garage sales, antique markets and estate sales.

The renovation of the home, which took 10 months to complete, involved necessary updates to plumbing, electricity and flooring. It also entailed raising the roofline to create 12-foot ceilings, making the 1,100-square-foot home’s small footprint feel roomy and much larger. One of the best additions turned out to be the 600-square-foot screened-in porch on the back of the property, complete with a fireplace and heaters, making it the perfect spot for cozy evenings, says Scaglia.

With its rich history, secondhand treasures and the charming town of Weston as its backdrop, Scaglia’s home is the perfect escape from her everyday hustle as a busy restaurateur. “I call it my escape sanctuary—my padded room so I don’t have to go to the insane asylum because my work is so busy,” Scaglia says with a smile.

This house isn’t Scaglia’s primary residence. She lives full-time in Mission Woods, and the Weston home serves as a weekend retreat. Unsurprisingly, the cozy home has become a creative haven and respite for Scaglia and her daughter, Star. Scaglia often starts her morning off with a coffee on the back porch and then takes time to build a decadent breakfast plate. 

“I like to cook up here,” Scaglia says. “It’s a creative space where I can just kind of, like, let everything be.” Her favorite way to spend time in the Weston house is creating new recipes, gorgeous charcuterie boards or even floral arrangements and savoring time with her daughter.

The historic town of Weston itself adds to the home’s retreat feel and serves as further inspiration. “I love to go downtown and shop the stores,” Scaglia says. “I love to go to the [historic Weston] orchard and pick apples and peaches. I like to go to Green Dirt’s tasting room, Noah’s [Delicatessen] for dinner, Avalon for a glass of wine and baked brie in the afternoon, and I’ll stop into the speakeasy [The Whiskey Snug].”

While the home’s interior is almost unrecognizable from its pre-renovation state, Scaglia honors its history throughout. The patio tables on the screened-in porch are crafted from the original doors of the house, and candlesticks were made from the columns of the old front porch. Bricks from the original chimney were also repurposed as flooring in the garden shed.

Coupled with Scaglia’s love of history is her passion for original art and support of local artists, showcased on almost every inch of the 12-foot-tall walls. 

“When I moved from San Francisco to Kansas City at 22, I promised myself I would only buy original artwork,” Scaglia says. That promise has resulted in an eclectic mix of paintings and unique garage sale finds adorning the walls. “I buy everything I love. If you buy what you love, you’ll love what you have. When you put it together, it’s going to work well.”

In Scaglia’s home, it certainly works well. It’s a place where you’re constantly finding new things to look at and admire, whether it’s her impressive vintage dishware collection, her walls and walls of contemporary art or the colorful pops of wallpaper hidden throughout the home. The house came with character, and as a thoughtful maximalist, Scaglia added her own as well. 

“It’s pretty characteristic of me and the way I design things,” she says. “It’s buying used things and repurposing them, even if it’s not the purpose that it’s used for. Everyone’s trash is someone else’s treasure.”