I'm giving up trying to make X load this file properly on boot.
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ bindsym $mod+Shift+Page_Down move container to workspace next_on_output
bindsym $mod+Shift+Tab move scratchpad
bindsym $mod+Tab scratchpad show
-bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
+bindsym $mod+Shift+r exec "xrdb .Xdefaults; i3-msg restart"
# BORDER BACKGROUND TEXT INDICATOR
client.focused $col_c_focd_bor $col_c_focd_bgn $col_c_focd_txt $col_c_focd_ind