diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 01081e9..e96a296 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -72,18 +72,16 @@ but no guarantees!
 ## Properties
 
 A property is the definition of an attribute, it describes what the attribute is called, how it should
-be type casted, if at all, and other options such as the default value. These replace your typical 
-`add_column` methods typically found in migrations.
+be type casted and other options such as the default value. These replace your typical 
+`add_column` methods typically found in relational database migrations.
 
-By default only attributes with a property definition will be stored in CouchRest Model, as opposed
-to a normal CouchRest Document which will store everything. This however can be disabled using the 
-`allow_dynamic_properties` configuration option either for all of CouchRest Model, or for specific
-models. See the configuration section for more details.
+Attributes with a property definition will have setter and getter methods defined for them. Any other attibute
+you'd like to set can be done using the regular CouchRest Document, in the same way you'd update a Hash.
 
-In its simplest form, a property
-will only create a getter and setter passing all attribute data directly to the database. Assuming the attribute
-provided responds to `to_json`, there will not be any problems saving it, but when loading the 
-data back it will either be a string, number, array, or hash:
+Properties allow for type casting. Simply provide a Class along with the property definition and CouchRest Model
+will convert any value provided to the property into a new instance of the Class.
+
+Here are a few examples of the way properties are used:
 
     class Cat < CouchRest::Model::Base
       property :name
@@ -151,6 +149,20 @@ attribute using the `write_attribute` method:
     @cat.fall_off_balcony!
     @cat.lives    # Now 8!
 
+Mass assigning attributes is also possible in a similar fashion to ActiveRecord:
+
+    @cat.attributes = {:name => "Felix"}
+    @cat.save
+
+Is the same as:
+
+    @cat.update_attributes(:name => "Felix")
+
+Attributes without a property definition however will not be updated this way, this is useful to
+provent useless data being passed from an HTML form for example. However, if you would like truely
+dynamic attributes, the `mass_assign_any_attribute` configuration option when set to true will 
+store everything you put into the `Base#attributes=` method.
+
 
 ## Property Arrays
 
@@ -300,19 +312,19 @@ base or for a specific model of your chosing. To configure globally, provide som
 following in your projects loading code:
 
     CouchRestModel::Model::Base.configure do |config|
-      config.allow_dynamic_properties = true
+      config.mass_assign_any_attribute = true
       config.model_type_key = 'couchrest-type'
     end
 
 To set for a specific model:
 
    class Cat < CouchRest::Model::Base
-     allow_dynamic_properties true
+     mass_assign_any_attribute true
    end
 
 Options currently avilable are:
 
- * `allow_dynamic_properties` - false by default, when true properties do not need to be defined to be stored, although they will have no accessors.
+ * `mass_assign_any_attribute` - false by default, when true any attribute may be updated via the update_attributes or attributes= methods.
  * `model_type_key` - 'model' by default, useful for migrating from an older CouchRest ExtendedDocument when the default used to be 'couchrest-type'.
 
 
diff --git a/history.txt b/history.txt
index 13199f0..1b25d35 100644
--- a/history.txt
+++ b/history.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 * Major enhancements
   * IMPORTANT: Model's class name key changed from 'couchrest-type' to 'model'
   * Support for configuration module and "model_type_key" option for overriding model's type key
+  * Added "mass_assign_any_attribute" configuration option to allow setting anything via the attribute= method.
 
 * Minor enhancements
   * Fixing find("") issue (thanks epochwolf)
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/model/attribute_protection.rb b/lib/couchrest/model/attribute_protection.rb
index 1ddbd80..ed852a3 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/model/attribute_protection.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/model/attribute_protection.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 module CouchRest
   module Model
     module AttributeProtection
+      extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+
       # Attribute protection from mass assignment to CouchRest::Model properties
       #
       # Protected methods will be removed from
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/model/base.rb b/lib/couchrest/model/base.rb
index 8a7350b..bef793f 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/model/base.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/model/base.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ module CouchRest
       include CouchRest::Model::ClassProxy
       include CouchRest::Model::Collection
       include CouchRest::Model::AttributeProtection
-      include CouchRest::Model::Attributes
       include CouchRest::Model::Associations
       include CouchRest::Model::Validations
 
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/model/casted_model.rb b/lib/couchrest/model/casted_model.rb
index 8dc2f9e..ea74c02 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/model/casted_model.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/model/casted_model.rb
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@ module CouchRest::Model
 
     included do
       include CouchRest::Model::Configuration
-      include CouchRest::Model::AttributeProtection
-      include CouchRest::Model::Attributes
       include CouchRest::Model::Callbacks
       include CouchRest::Model::Properties
+      include CouchRest::Model::AttributeProtection
       include CouchRest::Model::Associations
       include CouchRest::Model::Validations
       attr_accessor :casted_by
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/model/configuration.rb b/lib/couchrest/model/configuration.rb
index 2dd9c88..2c4919a 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/model/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/model/configuration.rb
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@ module CouchRest
 
       included do
         add_config :model_type_key
-        add_config :allow_dynamic_properties
+        add_config :mass_assign_any_attribute
         
         configure do |config|
           config.model_type_key = 'model'
-          config.allow_dynamic_properties = false
+          config.mass_assign_any_attribute = false
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/model/properties.rb b/lib/couchrest/model/properties.rb
index d6981a3..f431c21 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/model/properties.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/model/properties.rb
@@ -2,16 +2,12 @@
 module CouchRest
   module Model
     module Properties
+      extend ActiveSupport::Concern
 
-      class IncludeError < StandardError; end
-
-      def self.included(base)
-        base.class_eval <<-EOS, __FILE__, __LINE__ + 1
-            extlib_inheritable_accessor(:properties) unless self.respond_to?(:properties)
-            self.properties ||= []
-        EOS
-        base.extend(ClassMethods)
-        raise CouchRest::Mixins::Properties::IncludeError, "You can only mixin Properties in a class responding to [] and []=, if you tried to mixin CastedModel, make sure your class inherits from Hash or responds to the proper methods" unless (base.new.respond_to?(:[]) && base.new.respond_to?(:[]=))
+      included do
+        extlib_inheritable_accessor(:properties) unless self.respond_to?(:properties)
+        self.properties ||= []
+        raise "You can only mixin Properties in a class responding to [] and []=, if you tried to mixin CastedModel, make sure your class inherits from Hash or responds to the proper methods" unless (method_defined?(:[]) && method_defined?(:[]=))
       end
 
       # Returns the Class properties
@@ -22,16 +18,36 @@ module CouchRest
         self.class.properties
       end
 
+      # Read the casted value of an attribute defined with a property.
+      #
+      # ==== Returns
+      # Object:: the casted attibutes value.
       def read_attribute(property)
-        prop = find_property!(property)
-        self[prop.to_s]
+        self[find_property!(property).to_s]
       end
 
+      # Store a casted value in the current instance of an attribute defined
+      # with a property.
       def write_attribute(property, value)
         prop = find_property!(property)
         self[prop.to_s] = prop.is_a?(String) ? value : prop.cast(self, value)
       end
 
+      # Takes a hash as argument, and applies the values by using writer methods
+      # for each key. It doesn't save the document at the end. Raises a NoMethodError if the corresponding methods are
+      # missing. In case of error, no attributes are changed.    
+      def update_attributes_without_saving(hash)
+        # Remove any protected and update all the rest. Any attributes
+        # which do not have a property will simply be ignored.
+        attrs = remove_protected_attributes(hash)
+        directly_set_attributes(attrs)
+      end
+      alias :attributes= :update_attributes_without_saving
+
+
+      private
+      # The following methods should be accessable by the Model::Base Class, but not by anything else!
+      
       def apply_all_property_defaults
         return if self.respond_to?(:new?) && (new? == false)
         # TODO: cache the default object
@@ -40,14 +56,48 @@ module CouchRest
         end
       end
 
-      private
+      def prepare_all_attributes(doc = {}, options = {})
+        apply_all_property_defaults
+        if options[:directly_set_attributes]
+          directly_set_read_only_attributes(doc)          
+        else
+          remove_protected_attributes(doc)
+        end
+        directly_set_attributes(doc) unless doc.nil?
+      end
 
       def find_property!(property)
         prop = property.is_a?(Property) ? property : self.class.properties.detect {|p| p.to_s == property.to_s}
-        raise ArgumentError, "Missing property definition for #{property.to_s}" unless allow_dynamic_properties or !prop.nil?
-        prop || property
+        raise ArgumentError, "Missing property definition for #{property.to_s}" if prop.nil?
+        prop
       end
 
+      def directly_set_attributes(hash)
+        hash.each do |attribute_name, attribute_value|
+          if self.respond_to?("#{attribute_name}=")
+            self.send("#{attribute_name}=", hash.delete(attribute_name))
+          elsif mass_assign_any_attribute # config option
+            self[attribute_name] = attribute_value
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
+      def directly_set_read_only_attributes(hash)
+        property_list = self.properties.map{|p| p.name}
+        hash.each do |attribute_name, attribute_value|
+          next if self.respond_to?("#{attribute_name}=")
+          if property_list.include?(attribute_name)
+            write_attribute(attribute_name, hash.delete(attribute_name))
+          end
+        end
+      end
+      
+      def set_attributes(hash)
+        attrs = remove_protected_attributes(hash)
+        directly_set_attributes(attrs)
+      end
+
+
       module ClassMethods
 
         def property(name, *options, &block)
diff --git a/lib/couchrest_model.rb b/lib/couchrest_model.rb
index d161368..8abb75b 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest_model.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest_model.rb
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ require "couchrest/model/extended_attachments"
 require "couchrest/model/class_proxy"
 require "couchrest/model/collection"
 require "couchrest/model/attribute_protection"
-require "couchrest/model/attributes"
 require "couchrest/model/associations"
 require "couchrest/model/configuration"
 
diff --git a/spec/couchrest/configuration_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest/configuration_spec.rb
index d0e681b..8e4ff35 100644
--- a/spec/couchrest/configuration_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/couchrest/configuration_spec.rb
@@ -73,9 +73,7 @@ describe CouchRest::Model::Base do
 
     it "should be possible to override on class using configure method" do
       Cat.instance_eval do
-        configure do |config|
-          config.model_type_key = 'cat-type'
-        end
+        model_type_key 'cat-type'
       end
       CouchRest::Model::Base.model_type_key.should eql(@default_model_key)
       Cat.model_type_key.should eql('cat-type')
diff --git a/spec/couchrest/property_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest/property_spec.rb
index cbcc00f..363da5b 100644
--- a/spec/couchrest/property_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/couchrest/property_spec.rb
@@ -88,12 +88,6 @@ describe "Model properties" do
       expect { @card.write_attribute(:this_property_should_not_exist, 823) }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
     end
 
-    it 'should not raise an error if the property does not exist and dynamic properties are allowed' do
-      @card.class.allow_dynamic_properties = true
-      expect { @card.write_attribute(:this_property_should_not_exist, 823) }.to_not raise_error(ArgumentError)
-      @card.class.allow_dynamic_properties = false
-    end
-
 
     it "should let you use write_attribute on readonly properties" do
       lambda {
@@ -116,6 +110,34 @@ describe "Model properties" do
     end
   end
 
+  describe "mass updating attributes without property" do
+    
+    describe "when mass_assign_any_attribute false" do
+      
+      it "should not allow them to be set" do
+        @card.attributes = {:test => 'fooobar'}
+        @card['test'].should be_nil
+      end
+
+    end
+
+    describe "when mass_assign_any_attribute true" do
+      before(:each) do
+        # dup Card class so that no other tests are effected
+        card_class = Card.dup
+        card_class.class_eval do
+          mass_assign_any_attribute true
+        end
+        @card = card_class.new(:first_name => 'Sam')
+      end
+
+      it 'should allow them to be updated' do
+        @card.attributes = {:test => 'fooobar'}
+        @card['test'].should eql('fooobar')
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
 
   describe "mass assignment protection" do