diff --git a/MMBackend.m b/MMBackend.m
index 2456ff1d4b..d1b4959119 100644
--- a/MMBackend.m
+++ b/MMBackend.m
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ static int eventButtonNumberToVimMouseButton(int buttonNumber);
 {
     defaultBackgroundColor = bg;
     defaultForegroundColor = fg;
+
+    NSMutableData *data = [NSMutableData data];
+
+    [data appendBytes:&bg length:sizeof(int)];
+    [data appendBytes:&fg length:sizeof(int)];
+
+    [self queueMessage:SetDefaultColorsMsgID data:data];
 }
 
 - (BOOL)checkin
diff --git a/MMTextStorage.h b/MMTextStorage.h
index 922e0bb8fd..db2b863f8f 100644
--- a/MMTextStorage.h
+++ b/MMTextStorage.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     int maxRows, maxColumns;
     NSAttributedString *emptyRowString;
     NSFont *font;
+    NSColor *defaultBackgroundColor;
     //NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragraphStyle;
 }
 
@@ -43,6 +44,8 @@
 - (void)clearBlockFromRow:(int)row1 column:(int)col1 toRow:(int)row2
                    column:(int)col2 color:(NSColor *)color;
 - (void)clearAllWithColor:(NSColor *)color;
+- (void)setDefaultColorsBackground:(NSColor *)bgColor
+                        foreground:(NSColor *)fgColor;
 - (void)setFont:(NSFont*)newFont;
 - (NSFont*)font;
 - (float)widthOfEmptyRow;
diff --git a/MMTextStorage.m b/MMTextStorage.m
index 13315018ef..2bb207b28f 100644
--- a/MMTextStorage.m
+++ b/MMTextStorage.m
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
     [emptyRowString release];
     //[paragraphStyle release];
     [font release];
+    [defaultBackgroundColor release];
     [attribString release];
     [super dealloc];
 }
@@ -130,9 +131,15 @@
 
     NSString *fmt = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%%%dc\%C", maxColumns,
              NSLineSeparatorCharacter];
-    NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
-            font, NSFontAttributeName,
-            nil];
+    NSDictionary *dict;
+    if (defaultBackgroundColor) {
+        dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
+                font, NSFontAttributeName,
+                defaultBackgroundColor, NSBackgroundColorAttributeName, nil];
+    } else {
+        dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
+                font, NSFontAttributeName, nil];
+    }
             
     [emptyRowString release];
     emptyRowString = [[NSAttributedString alloc]
@@ -359,6 +366,31 @@
     [self edited:NSTextStorageEditedAttributes range:range changeInLength:0];
 }
 
+- (void)setDefaultColorsBackground:(NSColor *)bgColor
+                        foreground:(NSColor *)fgColor
+{
+    // NOTE: Foreground color is ignored.
+    [defaultBackgroundColor release];
+
+#if 0
+    if (bgColor) {
+        defaultBackgroundColor = [bgColor retain];
+#if 1
+        NSMutableAttributedString *string = [emptyRowString mutableCopy];
+        [string addAttribute:NSBackgroundColorAttributeName value:bgColor
+                       range:NSMakeRange(0, [emptyRowString length])];
+        [emptyRowString release];
+        emptyRowString = string;
+#endif
+        [self clearAllWithColor:bgColor];
+    } else {
+        defaultBackgroundColor = nil;
+    }
+#else
+    defaultBackgroundColor = bgColor ? [bgColor retain] : nil;
+#endif
+}
+
 - (void)setFont:(NSFont*)newFont
 {
 #if 0
@@ -374,7 +406,7 @@
                 changeInLength:0];
     }
 #else
-    if (font != newFont) {
+    if (newFont && font != newFont) {
         //NSLog(@"Setting font %@", newFont);
         [font release];
         font = [newFont retain];
diff --git a/MMVimController.m b/MMVimController.m
index 85864b62c7..fe84934d57 100644
--- a/MMVimController.m
+++ b/MMVimController.m
@@ -650,6 +650,17 @@ static NSMenuItem *findMenuItemWithTagInMenu(NSMenu *root, int tag)
         }
 
         [name release];
+    } else if (SetDefaultColorsMsgID == msgid) {
+        const void *bytes = [data bytes];
+        int bg = *((int*)bytes);  bytes += sizeof(int);
+        int fg = *((int*)bytes);  bytes += sizeof(int);
+
+        MMTextStorage *textStorage = [windowController textStorage];
+        if (textStorage) {
+            [textStorage
+                    setDefaultColorsBackground:[NSColor colorWithRgbInt:bg]
+                                    foreground:[NSColor colorWithRgbInt:fg]];
+        }
     } else {
         NSLog(@"WARNING: Unknown message received (msgid=%d)", msgid);
     }
diff --git a/MacVim.h b/MacVim.h
index 2945850216..a984419c48 100644
--- a/MacVim.h
+++ b/MacVim.h
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ enum {
     ScrollbarEventMsgID,
     SetFontMsgID,
     VimShouldCloseMsgID,
+    SetDefaultColorsMsgID,
 };
 
 
diff --git a/gui_macvim.m b/gui_macvim.m
index 21bf4cf8f9..0f78d5fab9 100644
--- a/gui_macvim.m
+++ b/gui_macvim.m
@@ -83,9 +83,7 @@ gui_mch_init(void)
     gui.char_width = 1;
     gui.char_ascent = 0;
 
-    // Default foreground and background colors are black and white.
-    gui.def_norm_pixel = gui.norm_pixel = 0;
-    gui.def_back_pixel = gui.back_pixel = 0xffffff;
+    gui_mch_def_colors();
 
     [[MMBackend sharedInstance]
         setDefaultColorsBackground:gui.back_pixel foreground:gui.norm_pixel];
@@ -1060,6 +1058,15 @@ gui_mch_new_colors(void)
 }
 
 
+    void
+gui_mch_def_colors()
+{
+    // Default foreground and background colors are black and white.
+    gui.def_norm_pixel = gui.norm_pixel = 0;
+    gui.def_back_pixel = gui.back_pixel = 0xffffff;
+}
+
+
 /*
  * Set the current text background color.
  */