I highly recommend Marcos home in Santa Teresa if you're looking for a place off the beaten path of Rio but with easy access to all the great spots Rio offers. The house is super unique and well decorated. The space is very roomy and has a huge outdoor deck with marvelous views of the city. The kitchen is amazing and stocked with everything you might need for cooking and Marco even made a huge batch of homemade yogurt with fruit for a welcome basket. Coffee machine with plenty of pods was excellent for quick coffee.
The house is situated about 1 km from Largo de Guimarães where the main hub of Santa is located. There are buses that literally pass right in front of your door. An Uber to the nearest metro is roughly 10$r and then you have access to the city. Coming back to Santa, stop at the Gloria metro station and grab a 6$r moto taxi that takes you to the house.
One suggestion with either the taxi or Uber is to ask them to descend into Rio via largo do Guimarães as it's the safest route
Overall marvelous one month stay with Marco and highly recommend his house.
Oh yah, Marco is always available on WhatsApp for communication and even sent me events that were happening in Santa Teresa which was great.