diff --git a/lib/widget.js b/lib/widget.js
index 6105635..e572305 100644
--- a/lib/widget.js
+++ b/lib/widget.js
@@ -2073,11 +2073,29 @@ Box.prototype.render = function(stop) {
 
   if (this.border) yi_++, yl--, xi_++, xl--;
 
+  if (this.padding || this.options.valign) {
+    this.screen.fillRegion(dattr, ' ', xi_, xl, yi_, yl);
+  }
+
   if (this.padding) {
     yi_ += this.padding, yl -= this.padding;
     xi_ += this.padding, xl -= this.padding;
   }
 
+  if (this.options.valign === 'middle' || this.options.valign === 'bottom') {
+    //visible = (yl - yi_) - (this.border ? 2 : 0) - this.padding;
+    visible = yl - yi_;
+    if (this._clines.length < visible) {
+      if (this.options.valign === 'middle') {
+        visible = visible / 2 | 0;
+        visible -= this._clines.length / 2 | 0;
+      } else if (this.options.valign === 'bottom') {
+        visible -= this._clines.length;
+      }
+      yi_ += visible;
+    }
+  }
+
 outer:
   for (yi = yi_; yi < yl; yi++) {
     if (!lines[yi]) break;
@@ -2171,6 +2189,7 @@ outer:
     xi_ -= this.padding, xl += this.padding;
   }
 
+/*
   if (this.padding) {
     // Set padding to green for debugging:
     // dattr = (dattr & ~0x1ff) | colors.convert('green');
@@ -2199,6 +2218,7 @@ outer:
       yi_ + (this.border ? 1 : 0),
       yl - (this.border ? 1 : 0));
   }
+*/
 
   if (this.border) {
     yi = yi_;
diff --git a/test/widget-insert.js b/test/widget-insert.js
index f459e7f..ee8a438 100644
--- a/test/widget-insert.js
+++ b/test/widget-insert.js
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ var box = blessed.box({
   height: 5,
   top: 'center',
   left: 0,
-  content: 'line 1'
+  content: 'line 1',
+  //valign: 'middle'
 });
 
 screen.render();