Tour Every Space Keshia, Matthew and Melissa Transformed on ‘Totally ‘90s House’

Vintage ‘90s fashion is trendy all over again; ‘90s music is re-climbing the charts; and we're getting nostalgic for the relatively-screen-free life that was possible in the analog decade. Interior-design choices of the '90s however, not so much. After a nationwide casting call for houses stuck in the '90s, HGTV singled out four homes — then called on six design-minded television stars of the era to help stop the insanity. Enter HGTV's Totally '90s House competition. Host Jaleel White (Steve Urkel from Family Matters) divided the sitcom icons into two three-person teams, then supplied them with renovation budgets of $200,000 per trio. He tasked each team with updating one of the four chosen homes room-by-room, facing evaluations from guest judges each week on creativity, nods to the ‘90s and overall design. The overall winners get bragging rights and a donation of $25,000 to their chosen charity.

In this corner: Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy Huxtable of The Cosby Show), Matthew Lawrence (Jack Hunter from Boy Meets World) and Melissa Joan Hart (who bookended the decade with title roles on Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch). Though they all had some experience with renovation and design, Jaleel did them a solid by matching them with a pro mentor (HGTV’s own Carter Oosterhouse who offered guidance and clutch carpentry along the way).

They did their best to outperform the three members of Team Mauve: Jodie Sweetin (Full House’s Stephanie Tanner), Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills, 90210’s David Silver) and Beverley Mitchell (7th Heaven’s Lucy Camden). Their design mentor, in turn, was HGTV’s Sabrina Soto.

Jaleel wasn’t about taking it easy on the teams. In the interest of keeping it real, ‘90s-style, he handed each group a “time capsule” full of outdated tech. (Car phones: check. VHS cassettes and players: check. Camcorders that could double as free weights? check.) These weren’t props; they were tools. “From this point forward your cell phones are off limits,” Jaleel said. “So put away your smart phones, can’t use them, people, we’re not going to be smart here!”

The first order of business was to visit, tour and decide between two decidedly outdated renovation candidates. Option one: a built-in-1993 Tudor Revival in St. Louis, Missouri. The good and bad news: It had 10,000 square feet of interior space, including a double staircase and a forest’s worth of stuck-in-the-‘90s woodwork. There were lots of ways to make an aesthetic impact, but would $200,000 be anywhere enough to tackle renovations on that scale?

The team then headed to Long Island, where Patti DeLeo’s once-contemporary home had remained essentially untouched since 1990. After raising her kids as a single mom, then welcoming her grown children and grandchildren to a house that felt more and more like a living time capsule, Patti was more than ready to modernize — and Team Curtains, who took their name for her curtains, felt like the crew to tow her into the future. (The cookies and tea cakes she left for Keshia, Matthew and Melissa didn’t hurt.)

Jaleel tasked each team with renovating their kitchen in seven days for no more than $70,000, and Team Curtains got cracking. Patti expressed an interest in beachy brightness and a kitchen garden that would help her host impromptu lunches. The team decided a coastal-cottage vibe would suit the house and Patti's taste. Keshia, Matthew and Melissa couldn't wait to get rid of the awkward peninsula, dated cabinetry and clunky layout that divided the kitchen from the rest of the first floor.

Hasta la vista, wishy-washy pastels! Team Curtains built the new kitchen around an island painted the dazzling azure of a summer sky, then let hints of the color carry through the materials they chose for the rest of the space. Kids and grandkids alike can pull up a stool at the massive island (topped with stone the team got for free, thanks to a midweek-challenge win), and foot traffic can flow freely in every direction.

The unexpected windfall of the free stone countertops gave Team Curtains wiggle room to replace the former living room’s unlovely exterior door with cottage-chic, glass-paneled French doors — a swap that their mentor-slash-carpenter accomplished with ease (and an assist from Keshia). A sunny new window seat replaces the dining table that once blocked access to the backyard, while a sweet, symmetrical arrangement of ornamental plates and wall-mounted herbs frame the vignette and give Patti a taste of the kitchen-garden functionality she craved.

The new island isn’t just a pretty face: It’s loaded with storage and sleek tech that matches the new refrigerator and range (which contrast handsomely with the bright brass hardware Team Curtains chose for the cabinetry). The blue paint also draws blue tones from the gray stone tiles they selected to create a ‘90s-worthy pattern underfoot.

Speaking of that checkerboard flooring, it was all Keshia’s idea. She loves a checkerboard, but knew a high-contrast homage to the kitchen floors of the ‘90s would be overseasoning the space. Instead, she lobbied for a tone-on-tone sand-and-cream arrangement — and when the cream tiles weren’t available, the team pivoted to gray. A showstopping, six-burner range is the space’s new star, and the upper cabinets flanking its hood go all the way to the ceiling now.