Yumi Interiors

Working with Kyoko was an absolute joy, and we can't wait to start on the next project together. She helped us redesign our living room, and its perfect! We loved Kyoko's style, which is we chose her to begin with. Once we started the project, however, we further realized what an amazing listener she is, and how great her talent is for marrying up our vision with her own expertise into a beautiful final aesthetic. She is thoughtful and responsive, always honest, and wonderful to work with in general. We are looking forward to redecorating our daughters' bedroom with her next. Thank you Kyoko!!

Kyoko is a dream come true! She was just what I needed to face the overwhelming task of decorating my new house. She thoughtfully narrowed furniture choices down to make choices easier for me, she did everything and anything from shopping with me to taking my drapes to the seamstress. She is easy going, flexible, patient (!!), reliable, organized and totally delightful. She did not tire of what seemed like endless searches for the perfect piece. She has great taste -- not at all prescribed or generic but highly creative. I recommend her services whole-heartedly!

As the owner of Slips, an interior sewing workroom in Berkeley, I've had the pleasure of working for Kyoko at Yumi Interiors a few times. The fabrics and designs Kyoko has brought to me are gratifying and challenging. Considering the way she respectfully listens to me I have no doubt her clients wishes and visions are her number one priority.

Kyoko of Yumi Interiors is fantastic! I have used her in a number of projects and on each one she has been responsive, creative and dependable. The most recent has been my condo and it looks fabulous. In the small living room there are 5 different paint colors and they work beautifully together. I never would have had the nerve had it not been for Kyoko. She listenened carefully to my ideas and then bumped them up a notch. She is not invested in your buying name brand furniture but she is is adamant about the choices being both beautiful and functional. And she is willing to scour garage sales and the internet to find the perfect piece. I loved working with her and enthusiastically recommend her services to everyone.

Kyoko prides herself in quality and comprehensive work- and it shows! She is very detailed in her responses and her work. She took her time to do each step of designing our family room and listened to our needs. She was really good with color (and paint is no easy task) and has a really calm and cool energy. If you have worked with a designer than you know what to expect possibly more than I do- the only reason why I am giving Kyoko 4 stars is that the hours seemed to creep up. She is honest and takes her time getting it right, so I know the hours were done consciously. We talked to over 6 designers and in the end we hired Kyoko mostly for her realistic design approach and her willing to help us each way through the process. Once we have a better idea of what we want for our house and what we are really willing to spend- we will be calling her again!

Kyoko (@ Yumi Interiors) is wonderful! I wanted someone who could help our new house look more put together. I had some idea of what I liked but couldn't execute and wasn't terribly confident either. Kyoko listened to my thoughts, brought creative ideas to the table and dramatically helped the look of the house. She's very easy to work with - she doesn't impose her ideas, but offers suggestions and counters my ideas with practical input. We have three young children so we need things to be 'kid-friendly' - I was worried that I'd work with someone who couldn't understand that - but Kyoko gathered info about our needs and offered kid-proof suggestions. Every idea she put forth, from artwork to paint color, is beautiful and our house looks professionally designed. She does a great job of working within my budget. I love the changes we've made based on her recommendations and will continue to work with her going forward.

My main living room needed sprucing up to elevate it from glorified dorm room status....this is where Kyoko came in. After visiting my place, and despite working with a challenging mixed bed/living room space, she made some great suggestions and picked out stylish but within-budget pieces to fit my tastes. She also offered her input on some color schemes for the walls. She struck a good balance between offering her input and listening to what i felt strongly about. Overall I'd say she did a great job, the budget was very reasonable and her responses were always timely. There were some things visually where it really helps to have a designer's eye and that's where I think she can help the most. Recommended!

We love working with Kyoko and Yumi Interiors. Kyoko is professional, experienced and creative. She has great communication skills and is an imaginative designer. We look forward to our next collaboration.

Kyoko designed the interior for my high-rise studio apartment in SF, and I really enjoyed working with her. Thanks to her design, I finally have a living space that I'm proud of. Kyoko was great about accommodating my requests, and it feels like the result reflects my personality well. In retrospect some of my requests were kind of ridiculous (e.g. "I want the space to be inspiring" and "Can you make it kind of cyberpunk, like Blade Runner?"), yet Kyoko somehow managed to make it all work. Besides the aesthetics, Kyoko also found creative solutions to practical problems like storage and shelving. When she visited the space in person to make finishing touches, it was really interesting to see her problem solving process in action—you can tell that she is very good at her craft.

Kyoko hit a major reset button on our house and lives. After almost 40 years of collecting and aquiring various attachments, our house was looking pretty worn out and messy. I wanted to paint everything, get rid of things and freshen up the the house for our next chapter in life, which was semi-retiring and focussing on my art. As I consider myself very creative, I though it would be easy, but colors are the hardest thing to pick! And I had made a few costly mistakes before and had to repaint everything after we had finished it 20 years ago! Kyoko is a magician when it comes to color. I showed her things that I liked and she came up with colors I would never even have thought of! The colors are exquisite, as is the mood! I told her I loved a world ( ethnic ), modern, and Victorian look. Pretty crazy, right? She said we could do it! I wanted a fresh and vibrant take on this combination. We used some of the furniture that we had and carefully picked out, a modern velvet couch and a few other pieces and the look is simply gorgeous! The house feels incredibly artisitc, unusual, and luxurious. I even have 3 modern cabinets for my Kitty Museum! The new kitchen counter is modern, and blingy with gold and silver specks and Maori tatoo designs on the tile backsplash! She even had a new take on hanging our art, in a way I would have never thought of! Now that’s just the house and it’s transformations. Kyoko is so much fun and professional to work with. She will tell you the truth and her opinion, but she listened carefully to our quirky needs and budget. She distilled and designed our wishes into a beautiful functional living space. She also taught me how to see things differently, and that is a gift. We have simplified our life as a result and we love it! She is a genius! Now our house is the house I have always dreamed of! Laurie & Gary