diff --git a/apps/client/src/features/editor/styles/table.css b/apps/client/src/features/editor/styles/table.css
index 32a427936..f0286cf5a 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/features/editor/styles/table.css
+++ b/apps/client/src/features/editor/styles/table.css
@@ -86,6 +86,16 @@
 .ProseMirror {
   table {
     @mixin dark {
+      /* Arbitrary (imported) colors: derive a dark variant; the hand-tuned
+         palette rules below override this for native colors. */
+      td[data-background-color],
+      th[data-background-color] {
+        background-color: oklch(
+          from var(--cell-bg, #fff) min(l, clamp(0.28, calc(1.22 - l), 0.45))
+            min(calc(c * 1.8), 0.09) h
+        ) !important;
+      }
+
       /* Blue */
       td[data-background-color="#b4d5ff"],
       th[data-background-color="#b4d5ff"] {
diff --git a/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/cell.ts b/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/cell.ts
index 9101e1614..a6ad21aa5 100644
--- a/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/cell.ts
+++ b/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/cell.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export const TableCell = TiptapTableCell.extend({
             return {};
           }
           return {
-            style: `background-color: ${attributes.backgroundColor}`,
+            style: `background-color: ${attributes.backgroundColor}; --cell-bg: ${attributes.backgroundColor}`,
             "data-background-color": attributes.backgroundColor,
           };
         },
diff --git a/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/header.ts b/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/header.ts
index 7f288dde9..e366145e2 100644
--- a/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/header.ts
+++ b/packages/editor-ext/src/lib/table/header.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export const TableHeader = TiptapTableHeader.extend({
             return {};
           }
           return {
-            style: `background-color: ${attributes.backgroundColor}`,
+            style: `background-color: ${attributes.backgroundColor}; --cell-bg: ${attributes.backgroundColor}`,
             "data-background-color": attributes.backgroundColor,
           };
         },