Hi, Mike,
Just as a follow-up...
If you have a button class where you defined a blue background, drop the button class on a form, change the button to red on a grey form and then click RESET, the color of button will usually appear as grey, as you discovered (not the blue, as one would hope).
However, if you compile the form, run it, or maybe even just close the form and re-open it, the color will probably show as blue. It's because of the mechanics of VS.NET redrawing the form and any code in the constructor of the button class. But I can certainly understand why seeing it in the same color as the form, and not the blue, would lead to a conclusion that something is wrong.
I've run into this a few times, and have just always 'accepted' that it gets resolved after a compile/run. In reading Bonnie's messages, maybe there is some combination of using DefaultValue (and the code that both she posted and I previously posted) to make it better and to cover all the angles.
Kevin