MFC 6 supports Custom Draw Tree Control, which makes setting different colors for individual tree items much simpler (see Zafir Anjum's article "Setting color and font attribute for individual items" to find out how to do it without Custom Draw support). Custom draw tree control sends an NM_CUSTOMDRAW notification to its owner. The trick is that the control sends first NM_CUSTOMDRAW notification with dwDrawStage set to CDDS_PREPAINT, and no further notifications will be sent, unless this notification is processed correctly. Setting pResult to CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW causes the control to send NM_CUSTOMDRAW notifications for individual items with dwDrawStage set to CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT, which allows changing item's attributes before it is drawn.

BOOL CMainFrame::OnNotify(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam, LRESULT* pResult)
{
	LPNMHDR pNmhdr = (LPNMHDR)lParam;

	switch (pNmhdr->code)
	{
		case NM_CUSTOMDRAW:
		{
			LPNMTVCUSTOMDRAW pCustomDraw = (LPNMTVCUSTOMDRAW)lParam;
			switch (pCustomDraw->nmcd.dwDrawStage)
			{
				case CDDS_PREPAINT:
					// Need to process this case and set pResult to CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW,
					// otherwise parent will never receive CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT notification. (GGH)
					*pResult = CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW;
					return true;

				case CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT:
					switch (pCustomDraw->iLevel)
					{
						// painting all 0-level items blue,
						// and all 1-level items red (GGH)
						case 0:
							if (pCustomDraw->nmcd.uItemState == (CDIS_FOCUS | CDIS_SELECTED)) // selected
								pCustomDraw->clrText = RGB(255, 255, 255);
							else
								pCustomDraw->clrText = RGB(0, 0, 255);
							break;
						case 1:
							if (pCustomDraw->nmcd.uItemState == (CDIS_FOCUS | CDIS_SELECTED)) // selected
								pCustomDraw->clrText = RGB(255, 255, 255);
							else
								pCustomDraw->clrText = RGB(255, 0, 0);
							break;
					}

					*pResult = CDRF_SKIPDEFAULT;
					return false;

			}
		}
		break;
	}


	return CFrameWnd::OnNotify(wParam, lParam, pResult);
}