diff --git a/src/msw/notebook.cpp b/src/msw/notebook.cpp
index 6b171c7a74..7a5bf36c59 100644
--- a/src/msw/notebook.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/notebook.cpp
@@ -254,6 +254,13 @@ bool wxNotebook::Create(wxWindow *parent,
     if ( !MSWCreateControl(className, wxEmptyString, pos, size) )
         return false;
 
+    // Inherit parent attributes and, unlike the default, also inherit the
+    // parent background colour in order to blend in with its background if
+    // it's set to a non-default value.
+    InheritAttributes();
+    if ( parent->InheritsBackgroundColour() && !UseBgCol() )
+        SetBackgroundColour(parent->GetBackgroundColour());
+
 #if wxUSE_UXTHEME
     if ( HasFlag(wxNB_NOPAGETHEME) ||
             wxSystemOptions::IsFalse(wxT("msw.notebook.themed-background")) )
@@ -835,25 +842,74 @@ void wxNotebook::OnPaint(wxPaintEvent& WXUNUSED(event))
     const wxLayoutDirection dir = dc.GetLayoutDirection();
     memdc.SetLayoutDirection(dir);
 
-    // if there is no special brush just use the solid background colour
-#if wxUSE_UXTHEME
-    HBRUSH hbr = (HBRUSH)m_hbrBackground;
-#else
-    HBRUSH hbr = 0;
-#endif
-    wxBrush brush;
-    if ( !hbr )
+    const HDC hdc = GetHdcOf(memdc);
+
+    // The drawing logic of the native tab control is absolutely impenetrable
+    // but observation shows that in the current Windows versions (XP and 7),
+    // the tab control always erases its entire background in its window proc
+    // when the tabs are top-aligned but does not do it when the tabs are in
+    // any other position.
+    //
+    // This means that we can't rely on our background colour being used for
+    // the blank area in the tab row because this doesn't work in the default
+    // top-aligned case, hence the hack with ExtFloodFill() below. But it also
+    // means that we still do need to erase the DC to account for the other
+    // cases.
+    //
+    // Moreover, just in case some very old or very new (or even future,
+    // although it seems unlikely that this is ever going to change by now)
+    // version of Windows didn't do it like this, do both things in all cases
+    // instead of optimizing away the one of them which doesn't do anything for
+    // the effectively used tab orientation -- better safe than fast.
+
+    // Notice that we use our own background here, not the background used for
+    // the pages, because the tab row background must blend with the parent and
+    // so the background colour inherited from it (if any) must be used.
+    AutoHBRUSH hbr(wxColourToRGB(GetBackgroundColour()));
+
+    ::FillRect(hdc, &rc, hbr);
+
+    MSWDefWindowProc(WM_PAINT, (WPARAM)hdc, 0);
+
+    // At least for the top-aligned tabs, our background colour was overwritten
+    // and so we now replace the default background with our colour. This is
+    // horribly inefficient, of course, but seems to be the only way to do it.
+    if ( UseBgCol() )
     {
-        brush = wxBrush(GetBackgroundColour());
-        hbr = GetHbrushOf(brush);
+        SelectInHDC selectBrush(hdc, hbr);
+
+        // Find the point which must contain the default background colour:
+        // this is a hack, of course, but using this point "close" to the
+        // corner seems to work fine in practice.
+        int x = 0,
+            y = 0;
+
+        switch ( GetWindowStyle() & wxBK_ALIGN_MASK )
+        {
+            case wxBK_TOP:
+                x = rc.right - 2;
+                y = 2;
+                break;
+
+            case wxBK_BOTTOM:
+                x = rc.right - 2;
+                y = rc.bottom - 2;
+                break;
+
+            case wxBK_LEFT:
+                x = 2;
+                y = rc.bottom - 2;
+                break;
+
+            case wxBK_RIGHT:
+                x = 2;
+                y = rc.bottom - 2;
+                break;
+        }
+
+        ::ExtFloodFill(hdc, x, y, ::GetSysColor(COLOR_BTNFACE), FLOODFILLSURFACE);
     }
 
-    wxMSWDCImpl *impl = (wxMSWDCImpl*) memdc.GetImpl();
-
-    ::FillRect(GetHdcOf(*impl), &rc, hbr);
-
-    MSWDefWindowProc(WM_PAINT, (WPARAM)(impl->GetHDC()), 0);
-
     // For some reason in RTL mode, source offset has to be -1, otherwise the
     // right border (physical) remains unpainted.
     const wxCoord ofs = dir == wxLayout_RightToLeft ? -1 : 0;