diff --git a/awesomerc.lua.in b/awesomerc.lua.in
index 0ab8f9d4..4b582d5c 100644
--- a/awesomerc.lua.in
+++ b/awesomerc.lua.in
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ require("beautiful")
 require("naughty")
 
 -- {{{ Variable definitions
+-- Themes define colours, icons, and wallpapers
+beautiful.init("@AWESOME_THEMES_PATH@/default/theme.lua")
+
 -- This is used later as the default terminal and editor to run.
 terminal = "xterm"
 editor = os.getenv("EDITOR") or "nano"
diff --git a/lib/beautiful.lua.in b/lib/beautiful.lua.in
index 2bb04374..476747d9 100644
--- a/lib/beautiful.lua.in
+++ b/lib/beautiful.lua.in
@@ -73,7 +73,4 @@ end
 
 setmetatable(_M, { __index = function(t, k) return theme[k] end })
 
--- Init with default theme.
-init("@AWESOME_THEMES_PATH@/default/theme.lua")
-
 -- vim: filetype=lua:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80