diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6b38cba26..7e07670cf 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ WIDGETS += widgets/focusicon.c
 WIDGETS += widgets/progressbar.c
 WIDGETS += widgets/tasklist.c
 WIDGETS += widgets/graph.c
+WIDGETS += widgets/emptybox.c
 WIDGETS += widgets/common.c
 
 
diff --git a/common/configopts.c b/common/configopts.c
index 5d768d472..2af53c43b 100644
--- a/common/configopts.c
+++ b/common/configopts.c
@@ -317,6 +317,21 @@ cfg_opt_t widget_textbox_opts[] =
     CFG_SEC((char *) "style", style_opts, CFGF_NONE),
     CFG_AWESOME_END()
 };
+/** This section defines emptybox widget options. */
+cfg_opt_t widget_emptybox_opts[] =
+{
+    /** X coordinate, do not set for auto. */
+    CFG_INT((char *) "x", 0xffffffff, CFGF_NONE),
+    /** Y coordinate, do not set for auto. */
+    CFG_INT((char *) "y", 0xffffffff, CFGF_NONE),
+    /** Mouse bindings. */
+    CFG_SEC((char *) "mouse", mouse_generic_opts, CFGF_MULTI),
+    /** Widget width. Set to 0 for auto. */
+    CFG_INT((char *) "width", 0, CFGF_NONE),
+    /** Style to use for drawing. */
+    CFG_SEC((char *) "style", style_opts, CFGF_NONE),
+    CFG_AWESOME_END()
+};
 /** This section defines tasklist widget options */
 cfg_opt_t widget_tasklist_opts[] =
 {
@@ -441,6 +456,8 @@ cfg_opt_t statusbar_opts[] =
     CFG_INT((char *) "width", 0, CFGF_NONE),
     /** Textbox widget(s). */
     CFG_SEC((char *) "textbox", widget_textbox_opts, CFGF_TITLE | CFGF_MULTI | CFGF_NO_TITLE_DUPES),
+    /** Emptybox widget(s). */
+    CFG_SEC((char *) "emptybox", widget_emptybox_opts, CFGF_TITLE | CFGF_MULTI | CFGF_NO_TITLE_DUPES),
     /** Taglist widget(s). */
     CFG_SEC((char *) "taglist", widget_taglist_opts, CFGF_TITLE | CFGF_MULTI | CFGF_NO_TITLE_DUPES),
     /** Layoutinfo widget(s). */
@@ -715,6 +732,7 @@ cfg_new(void)
 
     /* Check integers values > 1 */
     cfg_set_validate_func(cfg, "screen|tags|tag|ncol", config_validate_supone_int);
+    cfg_set_validate_func(cfg, "screen|statusbar|emptybox|width", config_validate_supone_int);
 
     /* Check float values */
     cfg_set_validate_func(cfg, "screen|general|mwfact_lower_limit", config_validate_zero_one_float);
diff --git a/widget.h b/widget.h
index d31a43a75..c7c1f4bf8 100644
--- a/widget.h
+++ b/widget.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ void widget_common_new(Widget*, Statusbar *, cfg_t *);
 WidgetConstructor layoutinfo_new;
 WidgetConstructor taglist_new;
 WidgetConstructor textbox_new;
+WidgetConstructor emptybox_new;
 WidgetConstructor iconbox_new;
 WidgetConstructor focusicon_new;
 WidgetConstructor progressbar_new;
diff --git a/widgets/emptybox.c b/widgets/emptybox.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6bfb290fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/widgets/emptybox.c
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * emptybox.c - empty widget
+ *
+ * Copyright © 2008 Julien Danjou <julien@danjou.info>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "widget.h"
+#include "common/configopts.h"
+
+extern AwesomeConf globalconf;
+
+typedef struct
+{
+    style_t style;
+} Data;
+
+static int
+emptybox_draw(Widget *widget, DrawCtx *ctx, int offset,
+             int used __attribute__ ((unused)))
+{
+    Data *d = widget->data;
+
+    if(!widget->user_supplied_x)
+        widget->area.x = widget_calculate_offset(widget->statusbar->width,
+                                                 widget->area.width,
+                                                 offset,
+                                                 widget->alignment);
+    if(!widget->user_supplied_y)
+        widget->area.y = 0;
+
+    draw_rectangle(ctx, widget->area, 1.0, True, d->style.bg);
+
+    return widget->area.width;
+}
+
+Widget *
+emptybox_new(Statusbar *statusbar, cfg_t *config)
+{
+    Widget *w;
+    Data *d;
+
+    w = p_new(Widget, 1);
+    widget_common_new(w, statusbar, config);
+    w->draw = emptybox_draw;
+    w->alignment = cfg_getalignment(config, "align");
+
+    w->data = d = p_new(Data, 1);
+
+    draw_style_init(globalconf.display, statusbar->phys_screen,
+                    cfg_getsec(config, "style"),
+                    &d->style,
+                    &globalconf.screens[statusbar->screen].styles.normal);
+
+    w->area.width = cfg_getint(config, "width");
+    w->area.height = statusbar->height;
+
+    return w;
+}
+// vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80