Located in Sarasota Glass and Mirror’s new commercial unit, The Woven Home is a recently-opened, 1400- square-foot, bright and open space featuring everything from $5 propagated plants to dressers from the 1940s, credenzas, and gently-used home decor, accents and baskets. Megan Uccello, along with her husband, Alex, are the proud owners of the brick-and-mortar store where they display and sell their products. While the couple tends to lean toward coastal bohemian style, they also feature mid-century modern and wicker items–anything that can help to make a house feel like a home. 

THREE YEARS AGO THE WOVEN HOME WAS RUNNING ENTIRELY VIRTUAL. They operated–and flourished–by posting newly-discovered decor and furniture items each week on their Facebook and Instagram pages. “We started on social media because that was the easiest way to get a business up and running during a pandemic,” says Megan. At that time, Megan, and a former business partner, were running the shop from her home, buying and selling high-quality, vintage furniture and decor. Soon, the business started to morph into a much bigger company and she found that it just wasn’t feasible to have customers shopping in her house.

Natives of Sarasota, the Uccellos feel a strong connection to the community. “We really wanted to utilize our ties to the area so we don’t travel much to source our inventory,” Megan says. “We work with social media and different local consignment shops to acquire really good pieces, and one of the big things we’ve started to do recently is to buy from our customers. So a customer can actually trade in an item and get a credit toward something new from our inventory.” This helps the Uccellos bring traffic into the store and gain new business from young couples, like themselves, who may be just starting out and unable to afford the high price of brand-new furniture.Megan, a graduate of USF, went to school for business and finance. While she felt prepared for a job in the business world, she knew that she did not want to go down a corporate path. Alex, who has a background in real estate, also knew he wanted to do something different. As a couple, they work well together and balance each other out. 

“I was blessed with the ability to curate a space, not just put a piece of furniture in it. I can look at a piece from the 70s and see how cool it could still be,” says Megan, who named her store ‘The Woven Home’ because she likes to weave different items together to make a space feel like home. Alex, who found the space for the store, has a knack for business and also takes care of moving and delivering the furniture.

“In addition to our working relationship, I think things are going well because people are realizing how expensive new furniture is and also that new furniture is not designed to be sustainable at all,” adds Alex. “We now have repeat customers and we’re seeing pieces that come back around again and again and they’re really holding up well. That truly speaks to the sustainability of older furniture.”

“We are a store for all ages, all generations,” says Megan. “We’ve had moms in our store buying for their children and one of our sweetest customers is an 81-year-old man. We love working with the whole population and getting to learn about each generation.”