diff --git a/lib/couchrest/mixins/collection.rb b/lib/couchrest/mixins/collection.rb
index 3dac41b..f590ef3 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/mixins/collection.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/mixins/collection.rb
@@ -27,23 +27,30 @@ module CouchRest
           proxy.paginated_each(options, &block)
         end
 
+        def collection_proxy_for(design_doc, view_name, view_options = {})
+          options = view_options.merge(:design_doc => design_doc, :view_name => view_name)
+          create_collection_proxy(options)
+        end
+
         private
 
         def create_collection_proxy(options)
-          view_name, view_options = parse_view_options(options)
-          CollectionProxy.new(@database, view_name, view_options, self)
+          view_name, view_options, design_doc = parse_view_options(options)
+          CollectionProxy.new(@database, design_doc, view_name, view_options, self)
         end
 
         def parse_view_options(options)
-          raise ArgumentError, 'parameter hash expected' unless options.respond_to? :symbolize_keys
-          options = options.symbolize_keys
+          design_doc = options.delete(:design_doc)
+          raise ArgumentError, 'design_doc is required' if design_doc.nil?
 
           view_name = options.delete(:view_name)
           raise ArgumentError, 'view_name is required' if view_name.nil?
 
           view_options = options.delete(:view_options) || {}
+          default_view_options = (design_doc['views'][view_name.to_s] && design_doc['views'][view_name.to_s]["couchrest-defaults"]) || {}
+          view_options = default_view_options.merge(view_options).merge(options)
 
-          [view_name, view_options]
+          [view_name, view_options, design_doc]
         end
       end
 
@@ -51,17 +58,24 @@ module CouchRest
         alias_method :proxy_respond_to?, :respond_to?
         instance_methods.each { |m| undef_method m unless m =~ /(^__|^nil\?$|^send$|proxy_|^object_id$)/ }
 
-        def initialize(database, view_name, view_options = {}, container_class = nil)
-          @container_class = container_class
+        def initialize(database, design_doc, view_name, view_options = {}, container_class = nil)
+          raise ArgumentError, "database is a required parameter" if database.nil?
+
           @database = database
-          @view_name = view_name
           @view_options = view_options
+          @container_class = container_class
+
+          if design_doc.class == Design
+            @view_name = "#{design_doc.name}/#{view_name}"
+          else
+            @view_name = "#{design_doc}/#{view_name}"
+          end
         end
 
         def paginate(options = {})
           page, per_page = parse_options(options)
-          rows = @database.view(@view_name, @view_options.merge(pagination_options(page, per_page)))['rows']
-          convert_to_container_array(rows)
+          results = @database.view(@view_name, @view_options.merge(pagination_options(page, per_page)))
+          convert_to_container_array(results)
         end
 
         def paginated_each(options = {}, &block)
@@ -99,8 +113,8 @@ module CouchRest
 
         def load_target
           unless loaded?
-            rows = @database.view(@view_name, @view_options)['rows']
-            @target = convert_to_container_array(rows)
+            results = @database.view(@view_name, @view_options)
+            @target = convert_to_container_array(results)
           end
           @loaded = true
           @target
@@ -126,12 +140,12 @@ module CouchRest
           @target.inspect
         end
 
-        def convert_to_container_array(rows)
-          return rows if @container_class.nil?
-
-          container = []
-          rows.each { |row| container << @container_class.new(row['value']) } unless rows.nil?
-          container
+        def convert_to_container_array(results)
+          if @container_class.nil?
+            results
+          else
+            results['rows'].collect { |row| @container_class.new(row['doc']) } unless results['rows'].nil?
+          end
         end
 
         def pagination_options(page, per_page)
@@ -139,12 +153,9 @@ module CouchRest
         end
 
         def parse_options(options)
-          raise ArgumentError, 'parameter hash expected' unless options.respond_to? :symbolize_keys
-          options = options.symbolize_keys
-
           page = options[:page] || 1
           per_page = options[:per_page] || 30
-          [page, per_page]
+          [page.to_i, per_page.to_i]
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/mixins/views.rb b/lib/couchrest/mixins/views.rb
index 55c1613..420b87a 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/mixins/views.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/mixins/views.rb
@@ -141,8 +141,12 @@ module CouchRest
             fetch_view(db, name, opts, &block)
           else
             begin
-              view = fetch_view db, name, opts.merge({:include_docs => true}), &block
-              view['rows'].collect{|r|new(r['doc'])} if view['rows']
+              if block.nil?
+                collection_proxy_for(design_doc, name, opts.merge({:include_docs => true}))
+              else
+                view = fetch_view db, name, opts.merge({:include_docs => true}), &block
+                view['rows'].collect{|r|new(r['doc'])} if view['rows']
+              end
             rescue
               # fallback for old versions of couchdb that don't 
               # have include_docs support
diff --git a/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_view_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_view_spec.rb
index 4d797e5..bfaa2c4 100644
--- a/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_view_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_view_spec.rb
@@ -337,5 +337,37 @@ describe "ExtendedDocument views" do
       Article.design_doc["views"].keys.should include("by_updated_at")
     end
   end
-  
+
+  describe "with a collection" do
+    before(:all) do
+      reset_test_db!
+      @titles = ["very uniq one", "really interesting", "some fun",
+        "really awesome", "crazy bob", "this rocks", "super rad"]
+      @titles.each_with_index do |title,i|
+        a = Article.new(:title => title, :date => Date.today)
+        a.save
+      end
+    end
+    it "should return an array of 7 Article objects" do
+      articles = Article.by_date :key => Date.today
+      articles.class.should == Array
+      articles.size.should == 7
+    end
+    it "should get a subset of articles using paginate" do
+      articles = Article.by_date :key => Date.today
+      articles.paginate(:page => 1, :per_page => 3).size.should == 3
+      articles.paginate(:page => 2, :per_page => 3).size.should == 3
+      articles.paginate(:page => 3, :per_page => 3).size.should == 1
+    end
+#    it "should get all articles, a few at a time, using paginated each" do
+#
+#    end
+#    it "should provide a class method to access the collection directly" do
+#
+#    end
+#    it "should provide class methods for pagination" do
+#
+#    end
+  end
+
 end