diff --git a/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-common.vala b/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-common.vala
index eff02ad..33f219e 100644
--- a/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-common.vala
+++ b/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-common.vala
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ public class Sidebar.RootOnlyBranch : Sidebar.Branch {
     }
 }
 
+public interface Sidebar.HiddenIcons : Object {
+}
+
 /**
  * A header is an entry that is visually distinguished from its children. Bug 6397 recommends
  * headers to appear bolded and without any icons. To prevent the icons from rendering, we set the
@@ -76,7 +79,7 @@ public class Sidebar.RootOnlyBranch : Sidebar.Branch {
  * using a custom cell_data_function (@see Sidebar.Tree::icon_renderer_function) which ensures that
  * header icons won't be rendered. This approach avoids the blank icon spacing issues.
  */
-public class Sidebar.Header : Sidebar.Grouping, Sidebar.EmphasizableEntry {
+public class Sidebar.Header : Sidebar.Grouping, Sidebar.EmphasizableEntry, Sidebar.HiddenIcons {
     private bool emphasized;
     
     public Header(string name, bool emphasized = true) {
@@ -89,6 +92,27 @@ public class Sidebar.Header : Sidebar.Grouping, Sidebar.EmphasizableEntry {
     }
 }
 
+public class Sidebar.Padding : Object, Sidebar.Entry, Sidebar.HiddenIcons {
+    public Padding() {
+    }
+    
+    public string get_sidebar_name() {
+        return "";
+    }
+    
+    public string? get_sidebar_tooltip() {
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    public Icon? get_sidebar_icon() {
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    public string to_string() {
+        return "padding";
+    }
+}
+
 public interface Sidebar.Contextable : Object {
     // Return null if the context menu should not be invoked for this event
     public abstract Gtk.Menu? get_sidebar_context_menu(Gdk.EventButton event);
diff --git a/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-tree.vala b/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-tree.vala
index 38a3dc7..0147df0 100644
--- a/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-tree.vala
+++ b/src/client/sidebar/sidebar-tree.vala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 public class Sidebar.Tree : Gtk.TreeView {
     public const int ICON_SIZE = 16;
+    public const int HEADER_PADDING = 1;
     
     // Only one ExternalDropHandler can be registered with the Tree; it's responsible for completing
     // the "drag-data-received" signal properly.
@@ -162,12 +163,12 @@ public class Sidebar.Tree : Gtk.TreeView {
         icon_theme.changed.disconnect(on_theme_change);
     }
     
-    public void icon_renderer_function(Gtk.CellLayout layout, Gtk.CellRenderer renderer, Gtk.TreeModel model, Gtk.TreeIter iter) {
+    private void icon_renderer_function(Gtk.CellLayout layout, Gtk.CellRenderer renderer, Gtk.TreeModel model, Gtk.TreeIter iter) {
         EntryWrapper? wrapper = get_wrapper_at_iter(iter);
         if (wrapper == null) {
             return;
         }
-        renderer.visible = !(wrapper.entry is Sidebar.Header);
+        renderer.visible = !(wrapper.entry is Sidebar.HiddenIcons);
     }
     
     private void on_drag_begin(Gdk.DragContext ctx) {
@@ -440,6 +441,24 @@ public class Sidebar.Tree : Gtk.TreeView {
         // mirror the branch's initial contents from below the root down, let the signals handle
         // future work
         associate_children(branch, branch.get_root(), insertion_iter);
+        
+        // add some padding after each branch
+        add_padding_at(insertion_iter, position);
+    }
+    
+    private void add_padding_at(Gtk.TreeIter? iter, int position) {
+        Gtk.TreeIter? padding_iter = null;
+        store.insert_after(out padding_iter, null, iter);
+        
+        Sidebar.Entry entry = new Sidebar.Padding();
+        EntryWrapper wrapper = new RootWrapper(store, entry, store.get_path(padding_iter), position + 1);
+        
+        entry_map.set(entry, wrapper);
+        
+        store.set(padding_iter, Columns.NAME, "<span font=\"%dpx\"> </span>".printf(HEADER_PADDING));
+        store.set(padding_iter, Columns.WRAPPER, wrapper);
+        
+        entry.grafted(this);
     }
     
     private void associate_children(Sidebar.Branch branch, Sidebar.Entry parent,
