diff --git a/src/FbTk/FbWindow.cc b/src/FbTk/FbWindow.cc
index b2347f3e..38ed8913 100644
--- a/src/FbTk/FbWindow.cc
+++ b/src/FbTk/FbWindow.cc
@@ -252,7 +252,19 @@ void FbWindow::updateBackground(bool only_if_alpha) {
 }
 
 void FbWindow::setBorderColor(const FbTk::Color &border_color) {
-    XSetWindowBorder(display(), m_window, border_color.pixel());
+    unsigned long pixel = border_color.pixel();
+    XWindowAttributes attr;
+    if (XGetWindowAttributes(display(), m_window, &attr)
+      && attr.colormap != DefaultColormap(display(), m_screen_num)) {
+      XColor color;
+      color.red = border_color.red() * 0x101;
+      color.green = border_color.green() * 0x101;
+      color.blue = border_color.blue() * 0x101;
+      if (XAllocColor(display(), attr.colormap, &color)){
+        pixel = color.pixel;
+      }
+    }
+    XSetWindowBorder(display(), m_window, pixel);
     m_border_color = border_color.pixel();
 }