Use the ForeColorCategories and BackColorCategories properties to customize the colors for category items, when ShowCategories property is True.

The following sample displays the control's categories:

Private Sub Form_Load()
    With PropertiesList1
        .HasLines = False
        .BackColorCategories = vbBlue
        .ForeColorCategories = vbWhite
        .ShowCategories = True
        .ShowPropertyPages = False
        .Select PropertiesList1.Object
    End With
End Sub