Joan Steffend knew something odd was happening when she kept getting text messages from younger family members, asking if she knew she’d gone viral. By late June 2025, she’d been sent too many TikTok videos to watch — many with millions of views — featuring old clips of herself gleefully hosting HGTV’s “Decorating Cents,” a series so popular that it ran for 10 years, from 1997 to 2007, sometimes airing nine times a week, she told EntertainmentNow.
In each episode, Steffend narrated the action and joyfully assisted the designers as they attempted to transform rooms in a few hours on a $500 budget. Discovery Plus has made five of the “Decorating Cents” seasons available to stream, and the shows are suddenly enjoying a resurgence as enterprising online comedians, led by stand-up comic Rob Anderson, have added humorous, snarky commentary to short segments from the show online.
Of the tidal wave of texts she’s received in recent weeks, Steffend told EntertainmentNow, “They were saying ‘It’s an honor to go viral’ and ‘You should take advantage of it,’ but it’s all just kind of baffling to me.”
However, there is one thing Steffend knows for sure: she doesn’t want the fun of looking back on shows from decades ago to discourage anyone from being creative and bold today.
Joan Steffend Says ‘Decorating Cents’ Was About ‘Not Listening to the Playground Talk’
Steffend, now a 70-year-old grandma of four, loves that some people are re-watching “Decorating Cents” while younger viewers are newly discovering the colorful design trends of that era. When it comes to some of the “super snarky” comments she’s seen in the viral videos, Steffend is a good sport about it all.
“I get it,” she laughed. “I mean, it’s from the late 90s, early 2000s, and the designer’s job was to be as wildly creative as they could be. There were hits and there were misses. And it didn’t matter to HGTV. If it didn’t look quite like we all thought it was going to, it didn’t matter — I still needed to, you know, be encouraging. It was still gonna air.”
There have been many copycats of Anderson’s social media videos, in which he feigns horror at some of the design choices featured in the “Decorating Cents” segments, but his are by far the most popular. Steffend told EntertainmentNow that her biggest concern is that all the finger-pointing and laughing might discourage some people from expressing themselves creatively in real life.
“I loved it because it was about not listening to the playground talk,” she said of the show. “In design, sometimes it feels like at certain points in time, everybody changes to this color and this style and this way of doing your home … There’s an invitation of shame with a lot of it. We’ve gotta stop pointing and laughing at what people think is pretty, what people love at that moment in their life.”
“And they may change and they may grow, yes,” she continued, “but you know, it’s like that playground thing where one kid points and laughs at something that a kid is wearing, or that a kid created in our class, or whatever. All of a sudden, it diminishes the person’s sense of self or value. It may seem little but it’s a big deal. And it’s really easy to gather around the kid who’s pointing and laughing. It’s easy for kids to feel the safety of being in the group that’s pointing as opposed to standing with the person who looks at life differently.”
“Some of our stuff (on ‘Decorating Cents), it was like, we did the best we could at the time. So I understand (some of the criticism), but I don’t want to take away people’s joy in creativity. You can make fun of me all day long. I don’t care. It’s lovely somebody’s paying attention, you know? But the idea that we have to separate by what we think is attractive or creative is another kind of judgment we just don’t need in this world right now.”
Rob Anderson Says ‘We’re Living in a Stale Creative Climate’
Anderson, a stand-up comedian who’s grown an online following with his takes on other past pop culture phenomena like “7th Heaven” and “The Berenstain Bears,” told EntertainmentNow that he agrees wholeheartedly with Steffend’s assessment.
“I think Joan’s right that it’s easier to be a critic than it is to be a creator,” he said via email. “We’re living in a stale creative climate where we recreate things or pay homage – in fashion, design, film – rather than start something fresh. I think that’s why a lot of people are revisiting the ’90s, myself included, to enjoy a time where people weren’t so afraid to try something new.”
As for the snark factor, Anderson said, “I understand Joan’s sensitivities and no one wants to take her hard work away from her. … But from my perspective, there’s a difference between discouraging something new and playfully poking fun at a home decor show from almost 30 years ago. It’s sparked excitement around the show!”
Anderson continued, “Even though it may not seem like it at first, it’s a gift to have people enjoy your creation in this way. They’re enjoying it on a higher level than whatever was intended, and that hooks people. It makes the show iconic. It brings them joy and they think of it fondly. They sit around with their friends and giggle at how they’ve decoupaged a dresser with sacred Indian prayers and then tore it off after. Somewhere right now a group of friends are planning a Decorating Cents party where they wear vests like Joan and Peggy and redecorate something on a budget and vote on a winner.”
Joan Steffend Says ‘Decorating Cents’ Was a Dream Job at a Time When HGTV Was Very Different
Steffend was a successful NBC news anchor in Minneapolis before being tapped to host “Decorating Cents” in 1997, she told EntertainmentNow. Pitched to her as a very part-time role, she turned down the production company multiple times, wanting more stability with two young daughters at home. But when Steffend finally agreed to give it a try and the show began airing, it quickly became so popular, she was soon filming year-round.
She recalled, “I had the easiest job of anybody (on ‘Decorating Cents’), because I would show up, and go, ‘Oh, look at that idea. Good job!’ And, ‘How did you manage that?’ You know, it was the best job for somebody who was still a mom, still trying to raise kids and stuff. I got to be creative. I got to build community with some really beautiful people, the designers and the crew. And I got to laugh more than anybody should be allowed to laugh.”
HGTV was a very different network then, Steffend said, remembering how executives did not want the talent to become stars and rarely included their names in any promotional materials. She maintained a low profile while filming around 40 episodes of “Decorating Cents” a year in addition to HGTV specials, including the annual White House Christmas special.
Steffend and other hosts were also forbidden from working with any companies on brand partnerships at the time, she told EntertainmentNow, so there were no ways for the designers on “Decorating Cents” to cut deals with sponsors, as is customary on shows today.
“They worked for hours and hours and hours to pull a room together, and they were paid so little,” Steffend said. “We just wanted to inspire people to be creative on their own. And I think we did that.”
In the years since “Decorating Cents,” in addition to spending time with her beloved kids and grandkids, Steffend has devoted herself to projects that spread kindness and cultivate beauty in the world. That’s included writing two books — Peace In, Peace Out and “…and she sparkled.” She hopes to find a publisher for another recently completed manuscript called “The Great Big House on Sweetwater Street Where Every One Lives Together.”
“It’s a metaphor for the earth, so the house is where everybody lives together, but everybody wakes up in the morning and looks out a different window,” she told EntertainmentNow. “They swear that (what they see is) true. Like, one person looks out and sees mountains, their neighbor looks out and sees an urban setting. Everybody looks out their window and knows that what they see is the fact, is the truth. Until they start to meet each other in the hallway, and they start to disagree about what their window told them.”
Steffend’s other big project is with her husband, filmmaker Joe Brandmeier, as they work to secure funding for their new documentary about former Minnesota Twin Joe Mauer’s life, based on the children’s book and new play “The Right Thing To Do.”
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‘Decorating Cents’ Host Joan Steffend’s Profound Response to 90s HGTV Show Going Viral (EXCLUSIVE)