diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index 9efa774..8a8d3be 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -12,11 +12,16 @@ static const char col_gray2[]       = "#444444";
 static const char col_gray3[]       = "#bbbbbb";
 static const char col_gray4[]       = "#eeeeee";
 static const char col_cyan[]        = "#005577";
-static const char *colors[][3]      = {
+static const char *colorsdark[][3]      = {
 	/*               fg         bg         border   */
 	[SchemeNorm] = { col_gray3, col_gray1, col_gray2 },
 	[SchemeSel]  = { col_gray4, col_cyan,  col_cyan  },
 };
+static const char *colorslight[][3]      = {
+	/*               fg         bg         border   */
+	[SchemeNorm] = { col_gray1, col_gray3, col_gray2 },
+	[SchemeSel]  = { col_cyan,  col_gray4, col_cyan  },
+};
 
 /* tagging */
 static const char *tags[] = { "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9" };
@@ -56,13 +61,14 @@ static const Layout layouts[] = {
 #define SHCMD(cmd) { .v = (const char*[]){ "/bin/sh", "-c", cmd, NULL } }
 
 /* commands */
-static char dmenumon[2] = "0"; /* component of dmenucmd, manipulated in spawn() */
-static const char *dmenucmd[] = { "dmenu_run", "-m", dmenumon, "-fn", dmenufont, "-nb", col_gray1, "-nf", col_gray3, "-sb", col_cyan, "-sf", col_gray4, NULL };
+static char dmenumon[2] = "0"; /* component of dmenu{dark,light}, manipulated in spawndmenu() */
+static const char *dmenudark[] =  { "dmenu_run", "-m", dmenumon, "-i", "-fn", dmenufont, "-nb", col_gray1, "-nf", col_gray3, "-sb", col_cyan, "-sf", col_gray4, NULL };
+static const char *dmenulight[] = { "dmenu_run", "-m", dmenumon, "-i", "-fn", dmenufont, "-nb", col_gray3, "-nf", col_gray1, "-sb", col_cyan, "-sf", col_gray4, NULL };
 static const char *termcmd[]  = { "st", NULL };
 
 static const Key keys[] = {
 	/* modifier                     key        function        argument */
-	{ MODKEY,                       XK_p,      spawn,          {.v = dmenucmd } },
+	{ MODKEY,                       XK_p,      spawndmenu,     {0} },
 	{ MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_Return, spawn,          {.v = termcmd } },
 	{ MODKEY,                       XK_b,      togglebar,      {0} },
 	{ MODKEY,                       XK_j,      focusstack,     {.i = +1 } },
diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index f1d86b2..d4e3ddc 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ static void scan(void);
 static int sendevent(Client *c, Atom proto);
 static void sendmon(Client *c, Monitor *m);
 static void setclientstate(Client *c, long state);
+static void setcolormode(int sig);
 static void setfocus(Client *c);
 static void setfullscreen(Client *c, int fullscreen);
 static void setlayout(const Arg *arg);
@@ -206,6 +207,7 @@ static void setup(void);
 static void seturgent(Client *c, int urg);
 static void showhide(Client *c);
 static void spawn(const Arg *arg);
+static void spawndmenu(const Arg *arg);
 static void tag(const Arg *arg);
 static void tagmon(const Arg *arg);
 static void tile(Monitor *m);
@@ -262,11 +264,12 @@ static void (*handler[LASTEvent]) (XEvent *) = {
 static Atom wmatom[WMLast], netatom[NetLast];
 static int running = 1;
 static Cur *cursor[CurLast];
-static Clr **scheme;
+static Clr **scheme, **schemedark, **schemelight;
 static Display *dpy;
 static Drw *drw;
 static Monitor *mons, *selmon;
 static Window root, wmcheckwin;
+static const char **dmenucmd;
 
 /* configuration, allows nested code to access above variables */
 #include "config.h"
@@ -486,9 +489,12 @@ cleanup(void)
 		cleanupmon(mons);
 	for (i = 0; i < CurLast; i++)
 		drw_cur_free(drw, cursor[i]);
-	for (i = 0; i < LENGTH(colors); i++)
-		free(scheme[i]);
-	free(scheme);
+	for (i = 0; i < LENGTH(colorsdark); i++) {
+		free(schemedark[i]);
+		free(schemelight[i]);
+	}
+	free(schemedark);
+	free(schemelight);
 	XDestroyWindow(dpy, wmcheckwin);
 	drw_free(drw);
 	XSync(dpy, False);
@@ -1442,6 +1448,32 @@ setclientstate(Client *c, long state)
 		PropModeReplace, (unsigned char *)data, 2);
 }
 
+void
+setcolormode(int sig)
+{
+	static const char *file = ".lightmode";
+	static char *path = NULL;
+	const char *home;
+	size_t size;
+
+	if (!path && (home = getenv("HOME"))) {
+		size = strlen(home) + 1 + strlen(file) + 1;
+		path = malloc(size);
+		if (!path)
+			die("dwm: malloc failed");
+
+		snprintf(path, size, "%s/%s", home, file);
+	}
+
+	if (access(path, F_OK) == 0) {
+		scheme = schemelight;
+		dmenucmd = dmenulight;
+	} else {
+		scheme = schemedark;
+		dmenucmd = dmenudark;
+	}
+}
+
 int
 sendevent(Client *c, Atom proto)
 {
@@ -1550,6 +1582,11 @@ setup(void)
 	sa.sa_handler = SIG_IGN;
 	sigaction(SIGCHLD, &sa, NULL);
 
+	/* set color mode on SIGHUP */
+	sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
+	sa.sa_handler = setcolormode;
+	sigaction(SIGHUP, &sa, NULL);
+
 	/* clean up any zombies (inherited from .xinitrc etc) immediately */
 	while (waitpid(-1, NULL, WNOHANG) > 0);
 
@@ -1584,9 +1621,13 @@ setup(void)
 	cursor[CurResize] = drw_cur_create(drw, XC_sizing);
 	cursor[CurMove] = drw_cur_create(drw, XC_fleur);
 	/* init appearance */
-	scheme = ecalloc(LENGTH(colors), sizeof(Clr *));
-	for (i = 0; i < LENGTH(colors); i++)
-		scheme[i] = drw_scm_create(drw, colors[i], 3);
+	schemedark = ecalloc(LENGTH(colorsdark), sizeof(Clr *));
+	schemelight = ecalloc(LENGTH(colorslight), sizeof(Clr *));
+	for (i = 0; i < LENGTH(colorsdark); i++) {
+		schemedark[i] = drw_scm_create(drw, colorsdark[i], 3);
+		schemelight[i] = drw_scm_create(drw, colorslight[i], 3);
+	}
+	setcolormode(0);
 	/* init bars */
 	updatebars();
 	updatestatus();
@@ -1649,8 +1690,6 @@ spawn(const Arg *arg)
 {
 	struct sigaction sa;
 
-	if (arg->v == dmenucmd)
-		dmenumon[0] = '0' + selmon->num;
 	if (fork() == 0) {
 		if (dpy)
 			close(ConnectionNumber(dpy));
@@ -1666,6 +1705,13 @@ spawn(const Arg *arg)
 	}
 }
 
+void
+spawndmenu(const Arg *arg)
+{
+	dmenumon[0] = '0' + selmon->num;
+	spawn(&(const Arg){.v = dmenucmd});
+}
+
 void
 tag(const Arg *arg)
 {