diff --git a/objects/client.c b/objects/client.c
index af64d60f9..33f9ba2dd 100644
--- a/objects/client.c
+++ b/objects/client.c
@@ -1630,8 +1630,7 @@ luaA_client_set_border_color(lua_State *L, client_t *c)
     if((buf = luaL_checklstring(L, -1, &len))
        && xcolor_init_reply(xcolor_init_unchecked(&c->border_color, buf, len)))
     {
-        xcb_change_window_attributes(globalconf.connection, c->window,
-                                     XCB_CW_BORDER_PIXEL, &c->border_color.pixel);
+        xwindow_set_border_color(c->window, &c->border_color);
         luaA_object_emit_signal(L, -3, "property::border_color", 0);
     }
     return 0;
diff --git a/objects/wibox.c b/objects/wibox.c
index 2be50182b..28a3e6bec 100644
--- a/objects/wibox.c
+++ b/objects/wibox.c
@@ -356,9 +356,7 @@ static void
 wibox_set_border_color(lua_State *L, int udx, const xcolor_t *color)
 {
     wibox_t *w = luaA_checkudata(L, udx, &wibox_class);
-    if (w->window != XCB_NONE)
-        xcb_change_window_attributes(globalconf.connection, w->window,
-                                     XCB_CW_BORDER_PIXEL, &color->pixel);
+    xwindow_set_border_color(w->window, &w->border_color);
     w->border_color = *color;
     luaA_object_emit_signal(L, udx, "property::border_color", 0);
 }
diff --git a/xwindow.c b/xwindow.c
index 35394687f..2b12eb7e0 100644
--- a/xwindow.c
+++ b/xwindow.c
@@ -225,8 +225,8 @@ xwindow_takefocus(xcb_window_t win)
                    XCB_EVENT_MASK_NO_EVENT, (char *) &ev);
 }
 
-/** Set wibox cursor.
- * \param w The wibox.
+/** Set window cursor.
+ * \param w The window.
  * \param c The cursor.
  */
 void
@@ -236,4 +236,15 @@ xwindow_set_cursor(xcb_window_t w, xcb_cursor_t c)
                                  (const uint32_t[]) { c });
 }
 
+/** Set a window border color.
+ * \param w The window.
+ * \param color The color.
+ */
+void
+xwindow_set_border_color(xcb_window_t w, xcolor_t *color)
+{
+    if(w)
+        xcb_change_window_attributes(globalconf.connection, w, XCB_CW_BORDER_PIXEL, &color->pixel);
+}
+
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80
diff --git a/xwindow.h b/xwindow.h
index eab2f972e..475465ad8 100644
--- a/xwindow.h
+++ b/xwindow.h
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ void xwindow_set_opacity(xcb_window_t, double);
 void xwindow_grabkeys(xcb_window_t, key_array_t *);
 void xwindow_takefocus(xcb_window_t);
 void xwindow_set_cursor(xcb_window_t, xcb_cursor_t);
+void xwindow_set_border_color(xcb_window_t, xcolor_t *);
 
 #endif
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80