apartment designed by Jarret Yoshida

This 800-square-foot apartment is a modern masterpiece. (From a listing at 51 Macdonough St. #2)

Do you ever flip through a home design magazine or Instagram and wish you lived in one of those expertly designed homes? Well, that dream can be a reality with a newly listed 1-bedroom for rent in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The stunning space is thanks to the vision of interior designer Jarret Yoshida who took the rundown, 120-year-old brownstone, and turned it into a living gallery.

“I could tell when looking at this brownstone with its classic architecture that it was worth saving,” Yoshida tells StreetEasy. “We couldn’t restore it, but I knew we could make it beautiful.” 

Over several years, Yoshida and his team worked tirelessly to transform the 800-square-foot space into a modern masterpiece while embracing its classic details like crown molding and stone fireplaces. He scoured flea markets from Miami to Massachusetts to find a mix of vintage and antique pieces to serve as focal points or repurposing.

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Stunning antique gold screens light up the living room wall.

“The sofa I found in some crappy thrift store in Fort Lauderdale for $65,” Yoshida says. “We spent thousands to have it completely redone, and it looks brand new.” Other standout pieces include the Japanese gold screen likely made by several artisans a century ago, and featuring 24-karat gold leaf. Instead of standing it upright — its original intention — the veteran designer opted to hang it as the main piece of art in the living room.

Another highlight? The custom koi glass backsplash in the eat-in kitchen, which is adjacent to the living room in the open floor plan. “The image is from a photograph I took,” Yoshida says. “Someone from my team photoshopped it to make it work, and the result was just so beautiful.”

interior designer apartment

The eat-in kitchen is big enough to seat four people.

It’s all of these little details that make this Macdonough Street apartment the epitome of eclectic design. But to make it all come together, the award-winning designer kept the furniture neutral. The kitchen cabinetry, dining table and chairs, bed, and nightstands are all shades of light gray or blonde wood. And the bathroom has an abundance of white tiles against a soothing blue wall color.

Original architectural details add visual warmth to the bedroom.

“We wanted to create something relatively calm, but with some color to make it pop,” Jarret Yoshida says. “The bright walls, decor, and art make it more vivid, engaging, and memorable while the neutrals make it livable.”

The one-of-a-kind pad is now available for short and long-term rentals.

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