If you're going to Rio, this is where you want to stay. A perfect apartment in a perfect location. You have private access by the elevator to your own space and that makes it easy to come and go as you please without disturbing your hosts.
That said, Marcelo is the man. He offered to pick us up from the airport and take us when we were leaving, which if we had taken advantage of it would have saved us $R160.
He drove us all around town the first night to give us an idea of where we were and described the general layout of the city so we knew how to get where we wanted to go. We didn't need a car at all because his beautiful home is very close to a mainline metro stop.
Santa Teresa is really the perfect place to stay because you feel like you are in a real neighborhood. It is quiet but very close to the essential things that you need like markets, including a farmers market on the weekends, and a short walk from Santa Theresa proper which has incredible restaurants and bars. It's also a short walk to Lapa, which is the hottest weekend spot for nightlife and street music.
If you love dogs, this is the best place you could ever stay because they have two amazing dogs, a veteran frenchie and a boxer puppy (when I was there).
It's easy to get to the beach and to the bike rio bikes that are even better than having to worry about being responsible for his bikes.
If you don't stay here, you're going to pay a lot more to be in a much more touristy area.