13 Ways to Spruce Up Your Decor With Succulents

One of the easiest ways to turn your house into a home is to add plants. Greenery brings beauty, character, texture, and good energy into every space. Even if you don't have the greenest of thumbs, taking care of real flowers and plants brings a certain amount of meditation into your everyday routine as you take care of them and watch them thrive. We're always looking for an excuse to paint a pot, DIY a planter, or get some potted plants for the front porch, so here are beautiful ideas for how to bring more plants into your home.

Macrame Hanging Basket Hangers

Brighten your space with some macrame planters like these ones. Hang near the window in the living room or by the kitchen window. (via Brit + Co)

Pegboard Headboard

We adore unique headboards. And when you live in a small space, you’ll appreciate a headboard that not only holds bedtime essentials – a book and an alarm clock – but also a little potted plant. (via Sugar and Cloth)

Window Ledge

One of the main reasons indoor plants die is because they’re not getting enough light. DIY this little ledge to fit in your kitchen window and set up your collection of herbs and succulents. (via A Beautiful Mess)

Air Plant Wall Art

Air plants are pretty cool, but air plants tucked into colorful string art is even cooler. (via Brit + Co)

Clothing Rack Vertical Garden

Forget the bar cart and go all out with a plant cart that's perfect for your faux hanging plants outdoors. If you have extra surface area without much going on, try adding layers of plants for a lively mini jungle. (via Brit + Co)

Handmade Paper Succulent Container Garden ($28)

Can't manage to keep a plant alive? We won't judge, but we will suggest this very cool paper succulent as a replacement.

DIY Marble Pots

Okay, you may not be able to splurge on fancy pottery, but if you can spruce up a standard ceramic pot with a swirl of nail polish to create a marbled effect. (via Brit + Co)

Ferris Wheel Plant Stand ($26)

When you live in a small apartment or a studio, you don't want to lose any counter space. This whimsical plant stand will display succulents while taking up a fraction of the room.

DIY Sand Art Terrarium

Don’t want to put a hole in the ceiling? You can always hang these terrariums off the side of a bookcase or cabinet for a casual hanging look. (via Brit + Co)

Fill the Space

A variety of plants perched on a sill can be a sneaky way to get some privacy in a window where you don’t want to hang a curtain. (via Brit + Co)

Fruit-Basket Succulent Holder

You only need a few materials to adorn this fruit basket that lets you repurpose an item you may not use often. (via Brit + Co)

Nick Makrides of The Scran Line has been thrilling Instagram and YouTube with his vibrant baked creations, and he’s now revealing the recipes in his new cookbook, Sugar Rebels ($20). He breaks down step-by-step instructions for constructing some seriously over-the-top sweets: The cupcakes are layered in various gradients; the cakes are multi-tiered; and everything comes with the type of signature flair only Makrides can conjure.

Makrides pulls inspiration from pop culture and trends, music, and the LGBTQIA community. “Pop divas like Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj are a constant source of inspiration for me,” writes Makrides in the introduction to the chapter “Rebel Pride.” “I love the way their music makes me feel empowered and confident. It’s also taught me how to deal with life’s ups and downs in a healthy way. I try to reflect that feeling in my desserts.” His neon-colored confections are often rainbow-splattered and proud of it.

One of the joys of Sugar Rebels is that every creation seems larger than life. Do you eat it or marvel? Whether it’s the Voodoo Halloween cake decked out in a realistic golden skull or the Forbidden Donut emoji-esque macaroon, Makrides’ creations don’t seem like they should be real — but they are. Take, for example, the Cactus Garden Cake, a layered chocolate cake with a ganache drizzle and several different kinds of frosting topped off with cartoon-like blossoming cacti. They are not your everyday millennial succulents, but they’re sure to make your heart happy.

Cactus Garden Cake

(Serves 30)

Here’s an example of a cake trend that I ignored and came back to once it was over, with my own twist and take on it. When I was coming up with this cake design, I didn’t want the cacti to look real. I wanted them to look bright, colorful and almost like they were inspired by a cartoon alien planet.

Recipe Notes: This cake is a serious undertaking for any baker, so Brit + Co decided to break the recipe into pieces for your ease of use. Click the links within the ingredients list to automatically jump to the recipe within the page to avoid scrolling. If you need additional photo step-by-step instruction, check out this handy cake-decorating guide which walks through how to add a crumb layer, bench scrape the frosting smoothly, and decoratively drizzle the white chocolate on top.

Ingredients:

Directions for Cake Assembly:

1. Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature in the tins, then chill them in the fridge overnight, still in their tins (you can wrap the tins in plastic wrap if you like). Chilling your cakes overnight makes them easier to trim and decorate, so I always bake my cakes the day before I decorate them. You can bake the cakes up to a week in advance and freeze them by tightly wrapping them in plastic wrap. To thaw the cakes, take them out the night before decorating.

Crumb-coat the cake using the raspberry frosting. To prepare the striped frosting, add the peach and white frosting to two separate piping bags.

3. Pipe a ring of peach frosting around the bottom of your cake, then a ring of white frosting above that. Repeat until you get to the top of the cake. Add some more peach frosting to the top. Use a small offset spatula to spread it out, aiming to get it flat. It doesn’t have to be perfect, because we’re going to come back to it.

4. Use a cake scraper to carefully scrape the frosting around the cake. Scrape any excess frosting off the cake scraper each time you go around the cake to ensure the different layers of colored frosting stay nice and neat. Continue scraping until the cake is smooth on the sides, then gently smooth out the top with the scraper.

5. Fill a piping bag with the teal ganache and drizzle it around the top of the cake, letting it drip down the side.

6. Finish by carefully adding the chilled cacti decorations to the top.

Chocolate Cake

(Makes 1 batch)

Directions:

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 275°F or a conventional oven to 320°F. Spray three 8-inch cake tins with oil spray, and line the bottoms with baking paper. Set aside.

3. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer until well combined.

4. Next, add the softened butter and mix on low speed until the batter reaches a crumbly, sand-like texture.

5. Add the eggs and milk and mix again on low speed until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl and mix for another 20 seconds. It’s at this point that you can add any additional flavorings or food-gel colorings to the batter.

6. Divide the cake mixture between the three tins. I find that using an ice-cream scoop makes it easy to distribute the batter evenly, ensuring that all three cakes bake at the same rate.

7. Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the toothpick is coated with wet batter, continue baking, for 10 minutes at a time, until fully baked.

8. Then, assemble and decorate your cake!

Raspberry Frosting

(Makes 1 batch)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Add the raspberry jam, raspberry flavoring (if using) and the pink food gel to the buttercream and mix with a hand mixer until well combined. This is the frosting you’ll use to fill and crumb-coat the cake.

Striped Frosting

(Makes 1 batch pink frosting, 1 batch white frosting)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Divide the frosting between two bowls.

2. To make the peach frosting, color one bowl with the orange and pink food gel and mix until well combined.

3. Leave the other bowl white.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

(Makes 1 batch)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Add 1 1/2 ounces sifted unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder when you add the vanilla extract. My cake recipes often call for more than one batch of frosting. Depending on the size of your mixing bowl, you may need to split the frosting into two batches when flavoring and coloring it.

2. Begin by filling a large saucepan 1/4 of the way with water. Let it come to a gentle boil over a medium-high heat.

3. Separate your egg whites from your yolks in a large, very clean, glass or metal mixing bowl. We only need the egg whites for this recipe, so you can store the yolks in an airtight container in the fridge to use for something else. (My go-to recipe for using up egg yolks is custard. Yum!) Add your sugar to the egg whites and use a hand whisk to mix them together.

4. Place your bowl on top of the pan of boiling water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. This is called the double-boiler method and is a very gentle way of cooking or melting something.

5. Gently whisk your egg white and sugar mixture for about 3–4 minutes, or until the sugar is completely dissolved. Check that it’s dissolved by running it through two fingers. If you can’t feel the sugar granules, then it’s time to take it off the heat. If you can, then continue whisking for another 2–3 minutes and keep testing until you can no longer feel any granules.

6. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed for about 4–5 minutes. The mixture will become thick and glossy and will begin to cool.

7. Gradually add the softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, while the mixer is on high speed. At first, your egg whites will deflate and look like the butter is causing them to split, but don’t panic! It will come back together. It takes a couple of minutes for the butter and meringue to become best friends.

8. Once you have added all the butter, add the vanilla extract and mix first on low speed to combine, then on high speed for 5 minutes.

9. You’ll know it’s done when the frosting has come together, has turned pale in color (if you’re making vanilla) and is nice and fluffy.

10. If you find your frosting is too aerated, then mix at the lowest speed for about 10 minutes and it will become perfectly smooth again.

Teal Ganache Drizzle

(Makes 1 batch)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Combine the white chocolate and cream in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 20 seconds at a time, mixing between each interval until smooth. Add a drop of teal food gel and mix until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.

2. Alternatively, you can make the ganache using the double-boiler method. Fill a large saucepan 1/3 of the way with water and bring to the boil. Place the bowl containing the chocolate and cream on top and gently mix until the two ingredients are completely melted and smooth.

3. To soften the ganache to drizzling consistency, microwave on high, for 5 seconds at a time, mixing well in between each interval. Dip a spoon into the ganache and, if it drizzles down and doesn’t look transparent, it’s ready to use on the cake.

Cactus Decorations

(Makes all cacti needed for decoration)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Check out the image to guide you in creating the cacti. Begin by lining two baking trays with baking paper. Set aside.

2. Set about 3 tablespoons of the American buttercream frosting aside. This is your plain white frosting.

3. Color 1/4 of the remaining frosting teal, and another 1/4 of the frosting lime-green. Divide the remaining frosting between three mixing bowls and color them pink, peach, and purple following the coloring formulations in the ingredients list.

4. For the large and small bulb cacti, use your hands to mold a small log out of one of the Rice Krispies Treats. Aim to get one end of the log a little flatter than the other. Fit the end of a piping bag with a Wilton #32 tip and fill it with the lime-green frosting. Add a small bulb of lime-green frosting to the bottom of the Rice Krispies log and stick it to a baking tray. Pipe lines around the log, starting at the bottom and working your way to the top. Continue until the cactus is completely frosted.

5. Fit the end of a piping bag with a small round tip and fill it with the white frosting. Pipe random little dots all over your cactus. To make the smaller cactus, repeat the same process with a Rice Krispies ball about the size of a plum.

6. For the purple spikey cactus, fit the end of a piping bag with a small leaf tip and fill it with the purple frosting. Begin by piping a circle of leaves onto the baking paper, about 2 inches in diameter, then fill that in with more leaves. As you pull away from the bottom, try and pull the piping bag straight up to give the leaves some height. If you feel it needs more volume, pipe some extra smaller leaves on top.

7. For the pickle cactus, pipe some tall pickle shapes about 2 inches in height with the lime-green frosting. Do it slowly so that you don’t risk them toppling over. Pipe a little bulb of pink frosting on top using a small round tip.

8. For the spikey bulb cactus, fit a piping bag with a Wilton 8B tip and fill it with the teal frosting. Pipe some frilly looking bulbs onto the baking paper, then pipe some little peach flowers on top using a small, closed-star tip and the peach buttercream. To finish, pipe little white buttercream spikes all over the cactus. (These are just some of the cacti I have made, but I’d encourage you guys to hop online and look at the thousands of cacti designs. Be inspired and experiment with your own designs and color combinations.)

9. Once you’ve finished making your cacti, pop them in the fridge for at least 2 hours to chill.

American Buttercream Frosting

(Makes 1 batch)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1.Add 2 3/4 ounces sifted unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder with the icing sugar.

2. Add your softened butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. You can also use a hand mixer for this recipe, but if you do use a hand mixer, make sure your bowl is large. Mix the butter on low speed to begin with, then switch to the highest speed and mix for 5 minutes until the butter is fluffy and turns pale in color.

3. Stop your mixer and scrape down the side of the bowl using a spatula. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and mix again on low speed. LOW SPEED, PEOPLE! The last thing you need is to end up in a sugar dust storm!

4. Once all the sugar has been incorporated, it’s safe to turn your mixer up to high speed. Continue beating on high speed for about 5–6 minutes, or until the butter turns pale in color and becomes fluffy again. If you want to soften your buttercream and make it a little smoother, add the milk and continue mixing for another couple of minutes on medium speed. At this stage, you can also add any food flavorings or food-gel colorings.

RELATED: This Sugar-tastic Cake Decorating Class Will Turn Your Dessert Game *Way* Up

(Recipe excerpted with permission from Sugar Rebels by Nick Makrides, published by Hardie Grant April 2019.)

We're getting closer and closer to seeing a Freaky Friday2. The cat's out of the bag that the sequel treatment is confirmed and actually happening, and movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan have been increasingly vocal about the upcoming movie's plot. The dynamic duo, who you can see in 2024's Borderlands and Irish Wish, respectively, are expected to return as Tess and Anna, the mother and daughter that wake up one titular freaky Friday in swapped bodies.

Filming for Freakier Friday finally began on June 24, and we finally have an official release date for the film! Here's everything we know about Freaky Friday 2 so far.

Is the band Pink Slip going to be in Freaky Friday 2?

Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

Anna's pop-rock teen band, Pink Slip, is undoubtedly integral to the plot of the original Freaky Friday, and thankfully, we'll see the band again in Freakier Friday! (Can we get some performances of “Take Me Away” and “Ultimate"?!). "Pink Slip is back together, the band. Yes!” Lindsay Lohan told Jimmy Fallon. “We just finished [filming] in August. It’s just been such a labor of love to make happen. And Jamie [Lee Curtis] and I, even at the table read, we were just smiling so big. I don’t think we were acting well, because we were so happy. But the movie’s funny, it’s really funny.”

"I may or may not have gotten to go to set and been around some pink slip energy," writer Jordan Weiss told me while promoting Sweethearts. "It may or may not have excited my inner child beyond belief because I was a super fan. I was 10 years old when the first movie came out. So 20 years later to get to work on the sequel as part of that team was a dream and, you know, don't meet your heroes unless your heroes are Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, In which case they're amazing. Meet your heroes."

Before the confirmation, a fewFreaky Friday crew members spilled on whether or not we'll actually see the angsty band in the sequel in an interview with Cosmopolitan.

Screenwriter Heather Hach clearly agreed that the soundtrack played a huge part in the movie's plot. "You take out the band element and I don’t think Freaky Friday would be as popular as it is," she said. "It didn’t feel like a derpy Disney movie. The music was actually really good."

Jaclyn Pearson, PHD, the drummer for the band Lash (who wrote the ever-iconic song "Take Me Away"), teased that Freaky Friday 2 might revisit their discography. "We contacted our record label because we heard there might be a sequel," she said. "We’ve got this whole back catalog. Maybe they could use another song for the film."

Producer Andrew Gunn seemed to suggest the same thing: "We got a draft of a script for the sequel right before the writers’ strike, and it was really good. A writer came up with the most brilliant idea. It uses music and the band in a great way."

When is Freakier Friday coming out?

Walt Disney Studios

Freakier Friday Release Date

Freaky Friday 2 is coming to theaters on August 8, 2025. This is definitely one of our most-anticipated movies of 2025 now!

Is Chad Michael Murray in Freaky Friday 2?

Presley Ann / Getty Images for Netflix

Freakier Friday Cast

Yes, Chad Michael Murray is returning for the sequel!

"How great would it be to bring Jake back?" he teased during the Mother of the Bride premiere in May 2024. "If Jake's invited back, Jake will be there." Thank goodness they invited him back!

Freaky Friday 2 also stars Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Rosalind Chao, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

What is Freakier Friday going to be about?

Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

Freakier Friday Plot

Freaky Friday 2 sees Anna with a family of her own, including a daughter and a future stepdaughter. According to a press release from Disney, "As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice."

"It's going to be a really freaky Friday," Lindsay Lohan told Good Morning America on June 27, 2024. "Much freakier than you would expect."

"[There's] a lot of love, a lot of fun, a lot of laughs," she continues.

Glen Wilson/Disney

Disney posted this sneak-peek screen cap that we can only assume is from the movie. We truly can't wait to watch this sequel!

Are they making a Freaky Friday 2?

John Nacion / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Lindsay Lohan said on Andy Cohen's Sirius XM show that Freaky Friday 2 is really and truly happening! However, "I don’t want to say too much,” she said about the potential timeline.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cast could be on set as early as summer 2024. In addition to Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis reprising their roles, Andrew Gunn and Kristin Burr will produce the movie, Elyse Hollander will write the script, and Ann Marie Sanderlin will executive produce. Nisha Ganatra will direct.

While Lindsay is looking forward to the story, she's “just excited to work with Jamie [Lee Curtis] again and see how much further we can take it," she tells PEOPLE. “We talk almost every other day in general, so I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this."

Are Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan friends?

Jamie Lee Curtis / Instagram

Yes, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are definitely still friends! In November 2023, Curtis shared an adorable Instagram selfie with Lohan, teasing the upcoming project. And after the writers' and actors' strikes ended, project promotion is slowly returning to light.

"YOU GREW UP and SO BEAUTIFULLY!" the caption reads. "Well, it's Friday, and the strike is over so hopefully, we can switch places again in the near future!" She also tagged Lohan and Disney, which teased the iconic ‘03 comedy in a fun way.

What has Jamie Lee Curtis said about Freaky Friday?

Allyson Riggs

Curtis — coming off some serious cinematic hits, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Halloween Ends — still retains a strong bond with Lohan, and hasn’t exactly been shy about her excitement towards circling back to Freaky Friday. Landing the original role and moving through production was undoubtedly significant to the actress: she cites her own success with Tess after taking on the job at the last minute, despite being booked and busy elsewhere.

“Had I had all the time in the world to prepare, I don’t think it would’ve been so good,” Curtis told the New York Times. “I just had to be in my body. I was also newly sober and I was able to have a community within the movie-work world. That was a big deal for me.”

What has Lindsay Lohan said about Freaky Friday?

Scott Everett White / Netflix

Lohan told the New York Times that she was ready and raring to tackle 2003’s Freaky Fridayback in the day after rocking a dual-role in 1998's The Parent Trap.

“I threw myself into everything: accents, green screens, playing two people,” said Lohan. “So I felt comfortable after that. Freaky Friday felt different because I was going through all of the phases of a 16-year-old [but playing a character who was a year younger]. This was the era of Avril Lavigne and punk, and I wanted to experience it. We did white stripes in my hair.”

The fame Lohan endured at a young age didn’t always leave a positive effect, and it’s been a hot second since we’ve seen her fully emerge back into the spotlight. The star’s been busy since – she moved to Dubai, manages her overseas businesses, got married, and recently welcomed motherhood. After all that, Lohan remains eager to act again – and thankfully in a second Freaky Friday.

“Jamie and I are both open to that, so we’re leaving it in the hands that be,” Lohan told NYT. “We would only make something that people would absolutely adore.”

It sounds like Curtis is ready, too. "As I went around the world with Halloween Ends, people wanted to know if there was going to be another 'Freaky Friday.' Something really touched a chord. When I came back, I called my friends at Disney and said, 'It feels like there’s a movie to be made.'"

Who's writing Freaky Friday 2?

Disney

Freakier Friday was written by Jordan Weiss.

Who is directing Freaky Friday 2?

Jamie Lee Curtis / Instagram

Nisha Ganatra is directing Freaky Friday 2. She’s directed TV episodes on shows like The Mindy Project, Shameless, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Dear White People. Ganatra has also done directorial work in movies like The Hunters, Late Night, and The High Note.

Disney will be distributing the Freaky Friday sequel.

Sign up for our newsletter for more entertainment news, and check out how Chad Michael Murray's Role In The Freaky Friday Cast Almost Went To Jared Padalecki!

This post has been updated.