diff --git a/examples/basic.py b/examples/basic.py
index 514cf8409..72743ab93 100644
--- a/examples/basic.py
+++ b/examples/basic.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ class BasicApp(App):
             footer=Widget(),
             sidebar=Widget(),
         )
-        self.panic(self.stylesheet.css)
 
 
 BasicApp.run(css_file="basic.css", watch_css=True, log="textual.log")
diff --git a/src/textual/css/_style_properties.py b/src/textual/css/_style_properties.py
index 469482925..fd62367b5 100644
--- a/src/textual/css/_style_properties.py
+++ b/src/textual/css/_style_properties.py
@@ -333,14 +333,20 @@ class StyleProperty:
             rules.pop("text_background")
             rules.pop("text_style")
         elif isinstance(style, Style):
-            rules_set("text_color", style.color)
-            rules_set("text_background", style.bgcolor)
-            rules_set("text_style", style.without_color)
+            if style.color:
+                rules_set("text_color", style.color)
+            if style.bgcolor:
+                rules_set("text_background", style.bgcolor)
+            if style.without_color:
+                rules_set("text_style", style.without_color)
         elif isinstance(style, str):
             new_style = Style.parse(style)
-            rules_set("text_color", new_style.color)
-            rules_set("text_background", new_style.bgcolor)
-            rules_set("text_style", new_style.without_color)
+            if new_style.color:
+                rules_set("text_color", new_style.color or Color.default())
+            if new_style.bgcolor:
+                rules_set("text_background", new_style.bgcolor or Color.default())
+            if new_style.without_color:
+                rules_set("text_style", new_style.without_color)
 
 
 class SpacingProperty:
diff --git a/src/textual/css/_styles_builder.py b/src/textual/css/_styles_builder.py
index 2b1cc2456..26f10d67c 100644
--- a/src/textual/css/_styles_builder.py
+++ b/src/textual/css/_styles_builder.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class StylesBuilder:
             self.styles.important.update(
                 {"text_style", "text_background", "text_color"}
             )
-        self.styles._rules["text"] = style
+        self.styles.text = style
 
     def process_text_color(
         self, name: str, tokens: list[Token], important: bool
diff --git a/src/textual/css/styles.py b/src/textual/css/styles.py
index 8261b49e8..18407e215 100644
--- a/src/textual/css/styles.py
+++ b/src/textual/css/styles.py
@@ -352,6 +352,9 @@ class Styles:
         rules = self.get_rules()
         get_rule = rules.get
         has_rule = rules.__contains__
+        from rich import print
+
+        print(rules)
 
         if has_rule("display"):
             append_declaration("display", rules["display"])
@@ -397,9 +400,9 @@ class Styles:
             append_declaration("text", str(self.text))
         else:
             if has_rule("text_color"):
-                append_declaration("text-color", str(get_rule("text_color")))
+                append_declaration("text-color", get_rule("text_color").name)
             if has_rule("text_bgcolor"):
-                append_declaration("text-bgcolor", str(get_rule("text_bgcolor")))
+                append_declaration("text-bgcolor", str(get_rule("text_bgcolor").name))
             if has_rule("text_style"):
                 append_declaration("text-style", str(get_rule("text_style")))
 
diff --git a/src/textual/dom.py b/src/textual/dom.py
index c6fa68560..47cca1776 100644
--- a/src/textual/dom.py
+++ b/src/textual/dom.py
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ class DOMNode(MessagePump):
         self._css_styles: Styles = Styles(self)
         self._inline_styles: Styles = Styles.parse(self.STYLES, repr(self), node=self)
         self.styles = StylesView(self, self._css_styles, self._inline_styles)
-        super().__init__()
         self.default_styles = Styles.parse(self.DEFAULT_STYLES, repr(self))
         self._default_rules = self.default_styles.extract_rules((0, 0, 0))
+        super().__init__()
 
     def __rich_repr__(self) -> rich.repr.Result:
         yield "name", self._name, None
diff --git a/src/textual/view.py b/src/textual/view.py
index dc1b0f618..12a10e855 100644
--- a/src/textual/view.py
+++ b/src/textual/view.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from .widget import Widget
 
 @rich.repr.auto
 class View(Widget):
+
     DEFAULT_STYLES = """
         layout: dock;
     """