diff --git a/box-drawing.c b/box-drawing.c
index 39deab50..e9e7ec33 100644
--- a/box-drawing.c
+++ b/box-drawing.c
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ struct buf {
     int dpi;
     float cell_size;
     float base_thickness;
+    bool solid_shades;
 };
 
-static const bool solid_shades = true;  /* TODO: configurable? */
 static const pixman_color_t white = {0xffff, 0xffff, 0xffff, 0xffff};
 
 static void
@@ -1756,12 +1756,12 @@ draw_light_shade(struct buf *buf)
 {
     pixman_format_code_t fmt = pixman_image_get_format(buf->pix);
 
-    if (solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
+    if (buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a8);
-    else if (!solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
+    else if (!buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a1);
 
-    if (solid_shades)
+    if (buf->solid_shades)
         draw_pixman_shade(buf, 0x2000);
     else {
         for (size_t row = 0; row < buf->height; row += 2) {
@@ -1779,12 +1779,12 @@ draw_medium_shade(struct buf *buf)
 {
     pixman_format_code_t fmt = pixman_image_get_format(buf->pix);
 
-    if (solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
+    if (buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a8);
-    else if (!solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
+    else if (!buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a1);
 
-    if (solid_shades)
+    if (buf->solid_shades)
         draw_pixman_shade(buf, 0x4000);
     else {
         for (size_t row = 0; row < buf->height; row++) {
@@ -1802,12 +1802,12 @@ draw_dark_shade(struct buf *buf)
 {
     pixman_format_code_t fmt = pixman_image_get_format(buf->pix);
 
-    if (solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
+    if (buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a1)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a8);
-    else if (!solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
+    else if (!buf->solid_shades && fmt == PIXMAN_a8)
         change_buffer_format(buf, PIXMAN_a1);
 
-    if (solid_shades)
+    if (buf->solid_shades)
         draw_pixman_shade(buf, 0x8000);
     else {
         for (size_t row = 0; row < buf->height; row++) {
@@ -2440,6 +2440,7 @@ box_drawing(const struct terminal *term, wchar_t wc)
         .dpi = term->font_dpi,
         .cell_size = sqrt(pow(term->cell_width, 2) + pow(term->cell_height, 2)),
         .base_thickness = term->conf->tweak.box_drawing_base_thickness,
+        .solid_shades = term->conf->tweak.box_drawing_solid_shades,
     };
 
     LOG_DBG("LIGHT=%d, HEAVY=%d",
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 66a4cc81..0f8f5aec 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -1929,6 +1929,14 @@ parse_section_tweak(
                  conf->tweak.box_drawing_base_thickness);
     }
 
+    else if (strcmp(key, "box-drawing-solid-shades") == 0) {
+        conf->tweak.box_drawing_solid_shades = str_to_bool(value);
+
+        if (!conf->tweak.box_drawing_solid_shades)
+            LOG_WARN("tweak: box-drawing-solid-shades=%s",
+                     conf->tweak.box_drawing_solid_shades ? "yes" : "no");
+    }
+
     else {
         LOG_AND_NOTIFY_ERR("%s:%u: [tweak]: %s: invalid key", path, lineno, key);
         return false;
@@ -2396,6 +2404,7 @@ config_load(struct config *conf, const char *conf_path,
             .render_timer_log = false,
             .damage_whole_window = false,
             .box_drawing_base_thickness = 0.04,
+            .box_drawing_solid_shades = true,
         },
 
         .notifications = tll_init(),
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index db0e6775..a5a47ce6 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ struct config {
         uint64_t delayed_render_upper_ns;
         off_t max_shm_pool_size;
         float box_drawing_base_thickness;
+        bool box_drawing_solid_shades;
     } tweak;
 
     user_notifications_t notifications;
diff --git a/doc/foot.ini.5.scd b/doc/foot.ini.5.scd
index abe90fc7..cb4b4f08 100644
--- a/doc/foot.ini.5.scd
+++ b/doc/foot.ini.5.scd
@@ -809,6 +809,16 @@ any of these options.
 	larger font (and thus larger cells) result in thicker
 	lines. Default: _0.04_.
 
+*box-drawing-solid-shades*
+	Boolean. When enabled, box drawing "shades" (e.g. LIGHT SHADE,
+	MEDIUM SHADE and DARK SHADE) are rendered as solid blocks using a
+	darker variant of the current foreground color.
+	
+	When disabled, they are instead rendered as checker box pattern,
+	using the current foreground color as is.
+	
+	Default: _yes_.
+
 *delayed-render-lower*, *delayed-render-upper*
 	These two values control the timeouts (in nanoseconds) that are
 	used to mitigate screen flicker caused by clients writing large,