diff --git a/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb b/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
index d56e9f6..400608b 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
@@ -2,8 +2,30 @@ module CouchRest
   module Mixins
     module DocumentProperties
       
+      class IncludeError < StandardError; end
+      
       def self.included(base)
         base.extend(ClassMethods)
+        raise CouchRest::Mixins::DocumentProporties::InludeError, "You can only mixin Properties in a class responding to [] and []=" unless (base.new.respond_to?(:[]) && base.new.respond_to?(:[]=))
+      end
+      
+      def apply_defaults
+        return unless new_document?
+        return if self.class.properties.empty?
+        
+        # TODO: cache the default object
+        self.class.properties.each do |property|
+          key = property.name.to_s
+          # let's make sure we have a default and we can assign the value
+          if property.default && (self.respond_to?("#{key}=") || self.key?(key))
+              if property.default.class == Proc
+                self[key] = v.call
+              else
+                self[key] = Marshal.load(Marshal.dump(property.default))
+              end
+            end
+        end
+        
       end
       
       module ClassMethods
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/more/extended_document.rb b/lib/couchrest/more/extended_document.rb
index 4cbd94d..dbe3f5c 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/more/extended_document.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/more/extended_document.rb
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ module CouchRest
   # Same as CouchRest::Document but with properties and validations
   class ExtendedDocument < Document
     include CouchRest::Callbacks
-    include CouchRest::Mixins::DocumentProperties
     include CouchRest::Mixins::DocumentQueries
+    include CouchRest::Mixins::DocumentProperties
     include CouchRest::Mixins::Views
     include CouchRest::Mixins::DesignDoc
     
@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@ module CouchRest
     define_callbacks :save
     define_callbacks :destroy
     
+    def initialize(keys={})
+      super
+      apply_defaults # defined in CouchRest::Mixins::DocumentProperties
+      # cast_keys
+      unless self['_id'] && self['_rev']
+        self['couchrest-type'] = self.class.to_s
+      end
+    end
+    
+    
     # Automatically set <tt>updated_at</tt> and <tt>created_at</tt> fields
     # on the document whenever saving occurs. CouchRest uses a pretty
     # decent time format by default. See Time#to_json
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/more/property.rb b/lib/couchrest/more/property.rb
index bbe398d..e3c86d5 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/more/property.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/more/property.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module CouchRest
   
   # Basic attribute support for adding getter/setter + validation
   class Property
-    attr_reader :name, :type, :read_only, :alias, :options
+    attr_reader :name, :type, :read_only, :alias, :default, :options
     
     # attribute to define
     def initialize(name, type = nil, options = {})
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ module CouchRest
     private
       def parse_options(options)
         return if options.empty?
-        @validation_format  = options.delete(:format)   if options[:format]
-        @read_only          = options.delete(:read_only) if options[:read_only]
-        @alias              = options.delete(:alias)     if options[:alias]
+        @validation_format  = options.delete(:format)     if options[:format]
+        @read_only          = options.delete(:read_only)  if options[:read_only]
+        @alias              = options.delete(:alias)      if options[:alias]
+        @default            = options.delete(:default)    if options[:default]
         @options            = options
       end
     
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/validation/auto_validate.rb b/lib/couchrest/validation/auto_validate.rb
index d5a96aa..6ccb3aa 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/validation/auto_validate.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/validation/auto_validate.rb
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ module CouchRest
             opts[:maximum] = len
           end
           # validates_length property.name, opts
-          p "dude: #{options_with_message(opts, property, :length)}"
           validates_length property.name, options_with_message(opts, property, :length)
         end
 
diff --git a/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eca0dfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../spec_helper'
+
+# require File.join(FIXTURE_PATH, 'more', 'card')
+# require File.join(FIXTURE_PATH, 'more', 'invoice')
+# require File.join(FIXTURE_PATH, 'more', 'service')
+
+
+class WithDefaultValues < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
+  use_database TEST_SERVER.default_database
+  property :preset, :default => {:right => 10, :top_align => false}
+end
+
+describe "ExtendedDocument" do
+  
+  describe "with default" do
+    before(:each) do
+      @obj = WithDefaultValues.new
+    end
+    
+    it "should have the default value set an initalization" do
+      @obj.preset.should == {:right => 10, :top_align => false}
+    end
+  end
+  
+end
\ No newline at end of file