diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/style.css.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/style.css.scss
index 312f599..fb383e3 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/style.css.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/style.css.scss
@@ -987,10 +987,8 @@ nav.pagination {
 }
 
 .label {
-  background: #d40;
+  background: #333;
   padding: 0.1em 0.2em;
   border-radius: 0.2em;
-  color: #b20;
-  border: 1px solid #B20;
-  text-shadow: -1px -1px #e50, 1px 1px #a10;
+  text-shadow: none;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/models/label.rb b/app/models/label.rb
index 0bcc7b9..e0cf98e 100644
--- a/app/models/label.rb
+++ b/app/models/label.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 class Label < ActiveRecord::Base
   validates_presence_of :name
+  validate :color_valid
   belongs_to :role
   has_and_belongs_to_many :forums
   has_many :forumthreads
@@ -8,4 +9,33 @@ class Label < ActiveRecord::Base
     name.upcase
   end
 
+  # calculate the foreground color
+  # either black or white, based on the bg color
+  def fcolor
+    bg = color.dup
+    # convert 3 char to 6 char hex
+    bg.gsub!(/./, '\&\&') if bg.length == 3
+    [0, 2, 4].each do |i|
+      if bg[i..i+1] >= "7f"
+        return "000"
+      end
+    end
+    return "fff"
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def color_valid
+    color.downcase!
+    unless [3, 6].include? color.length
+      errors.add(:color, "Must be 3 or 6 characters long")
+    end
+    valid_chars = ("0".."9").to_a + ("a".."f").to_a
+    color.split("").each do |c|
+      unless valid_chars.include? c
+        errors.add(:color, "Must be a valid HEX code")
+        return
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/forums/show.html.erb b/app/views/forums/show.html.erb
index d844fe7..7200c78 100644
--- a/app/views/forums/show.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/forums/show.html.erb
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
       </div>
       <div class="items bold">
         <div class="item <%= "#{"locked" if thread.locked}#{"sticky" if thread.sticky}" %>">
-          <%= link_to truncate(thread.title, length: 60, omission: " …"), forumthread_path(thread), title: thread.title %>
+          <%= render partial: "labels/label", locals: {label: thread.label} %><%= link_to truncate(thread.title, length: 60, omission: " …"), forumthread_path(thread), title: thread.title %>
           <div class="item-info">
             <% if rpl = thread.replies.last %>
               <%= rpl.author.name %>
diff --git a/app/views/labels/_label.html.erb b/app/views/labels/_label.html.erb
index ee3e602..a13fba0 100644
--- a/app/views/labels/_label.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/labels/_label.html.erb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 <% if label %>
-  <span class="label label-<%= label.name.downcase %>"><%= label %></span>
+  <span class="label label-<%= label.name.downcase %>" style="color: #<%= label.fcolor %>;background-color: #<%= label.color %>"><%= label %></span>
 <% end %>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/migrate/20150117134404_add_color_to_label.rb b/db/migrate/20150117134404_add_color_to_label.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40b6f4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20150117134404_add_color_to_label.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddColorToLabel < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :labels, :color, :string
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index e0ce7e0..cd86337 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20141120202853) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150117134404) do
 
   create_table "blogposts", force: true do |t|
     t.string   "title"
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20141120202853) do
   create_table "labels", force: true do |t|
     t.string  "name"
     t.integer "role_id"
+    t.string  "color"
   end
 
   create_table "register_tokens", force: true do |t|