diff --git a/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl b/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
index 649a64cc..4e90d4ef 100644
--- a/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
@@ -104,14 +104,12 @@ function (pgfx_plot::PGFPlotsXPlot)(plt::Plot{PGFPlotsXBackend})
         end
 
         for sp in plt.subplots
-            bb = bbox(sp)
-            sp_width = width(bb)
-            sp_height = height(bb)
+            bb1 = sp.plotarea
+            bb2 = bbox(sp)
+            sp_width = (width(bb1) + width(bb2)) / 2
+            sp_height = (height(bb1) + height(bb2)) / 2
             dx, dy = bbox(sp).x0
-            # TODO: does this hold at every scale?
-            # if sp[:legend] in (:outertopright, nothing)
-            #     dx *= 1.2
-            # end
+            
             cstr = plot_color(sp[:background_color_legend])
             a = alpha(cstr)
             fg_alpha = alpha(plot_color(sp[:foreground_color_legend]))