diff --git a/lib/dolly/document.rb b/lib/dolly/document.rb
index 6ad2641..d0bdc99 100644
--- a/lib/dolly/document.rb
+++ b/lib/dolly/document.rb
@@ -138,14 +138,19 @@ def self.create options = {}
       obj
     end
 
-    def self.property *ary
+    def self.property *ary, &block
       self.properties ||= {}
       options           = ary.pop if ary.last.kind_of? Hash
       options         ||= {}
 
-      ary.each do |name|
-        self.properties[name] = Property.new options.merge(name: name)
-        self.write_methods name
+      if options[:class_name] == Hash && block_given?
+        ary.each do |name|
+          init_property name, options
+          property = self.properties[name]
+          property.instance_exec(property, &block)
+        end
+      else
+        ary.each { |name| init_property name, options }
       end
     end
 
@@ -185,9 +190,14 @@ def init_properties options = {}
       init_doc options
     end
 
+    def self.init_property name, opts={}
+      self.properties[name] = Property.new opts.merge(name: name)
+      self.write_methods name
+    end
+
     def initialize_default_properties options
       _properties.reject { |property| options.keys.include? property.name }.each do |property|
-        property_value = property.default.clone unless Dolly::Property::CANT_CLONE.any? { |klass| property.default.is_a? klass }
+        property_value = property.value.clone unless Dolly::Property::CANT_CLONE.any? { |klass| property.default.is_a? klass }
         property_value ||= property.default
         self.doc[property.name] ||= property_value
       end
diff --git a/lib/dolly/property.rb b/lib/dolly/property.rb
index 27c89a5..7def60c 100644
--- a/lib/dolly/property.rb
+++ b/lib/dolly/property.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module Dolly
   class Property
     attr_writer :value
     attr_accessor :name
-    attr_reader :class_name, :default
+    attr_reader :class_name, :default, :subproperties
 
     CANT_CLONE = [NilClass, TrueClass, FalseClass, Fixnum].freeze
 
@@ -11,20 +11,29 @@ def initialize opts = {}
       @name = opts.delete(:name).to_s
       @default = opts.delete(:default)
       @default = @default.clone if @default && CANT_CLONE.none? { |klass| @default.is_a? klass }
-      @value = @default if @default
+      @subproperties = {}
       warn 'There are some unprocessed options!' if opts.present?
     end
 
     def value
-      #TODO: tets if this actually sets `doc[ "name" ]`
-      return @default if @value.nil?
-      return @value unless self_klass
-
-      klass_sym = :"#{self_klass.name.underscore}_#{__method__}"
-
-      return self_klass.new @value unless self.respond_to?(klass_sym)
+      return value_if_subproperties if subproperties.any?
+      standard_value
+    end
 
-      self.send klass_sym
+    def subproperty *ary, &block
+      options = ary.pop if ary.last.kind_of? Hash
+      options ||= {}
+
+      if options[:class_name] == Hash && block_given?
+        ary.each do |name|
+          @subproperties[name] = SubProperty.new options.merge(name: name)
+          self.subproperties[name].instance_exec self.subproperties[name], &block
+        end
+      else
+        ary.each do |name|
+          @subproperties[name] = SubProperty.new options.merge(name: name)
+        end
+      end
     end
 
     def array_value
@@ -81,5 +90,20 @@ def self_klass
       @class_name.is_a?(Class)? @class_name : @class_name.constantize
     end
 
+    def value_if_subproperties
+      @value ||= self_klass.new.tap do |v|
+        subproperties.each { |name, subproperty| v[name.to_s] = subproperty.value }
+      end
+    end
+
+    def standard_value
+      return @default if @value.nil?
+      klass_sym = :"#{self_klass.name.underscore}_#{__method__}"
+      return self_klass.new @value unless self.respond_to?(klass_sym)
+      self.send klass_sym
+    end
+
   end
+
+  class SubProperty < Property; end
 end
diff --git a/test/document_test.rb b/test/document_test.rb
index f1c9cfe..9869185 100644
--- a/test/document_test.rb
+++ b/test/document_test.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@ class FooBar < BaseDolly
 class Baz < Dolly::Document; end
 
 class FooBaz < Dolly::Document
-  property :foo, class_name: Hash, default: {}
+  property :foo, class_name: Hash, default: {} do 
+    subproperty :bar, class_name: Array, default: []
+    subproperty :baz, class_name: Hash, default: Hash.new do 
+      subproperty :far, class_name: Hash, default: Hash.new
+    end
+  end
 
   def add_to_foo key, value
     foo[key] ||= value
@@ -53,6 +58,12 @@ class Bar < FooBar
   property :a, :b
 end
 
+class SubPropertyDocument < Dolly::Document
+  property :foo, :bar, class_name: Hash, default: {} do
+    subproperty :baz, class_name: Hash, default: Hash.new
+  end
+end
+
 class DocumentTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   DB_BASE_PATH = "http://localhost:5984/test".freeze
 
@@ -498,6 +509,19 @@ def setup
     assert_equal 1, bar.a
   end
 
+  test 'subproperties and children subprops are populated on initialize' do
+    instance = FooBaz.new
+    expected = {"bar"=>[], "baz"=>{"far"=>{}}}
+    assert_equal expected, instance.foo
+  end
+
+  test 'subproperties may be defined for multiple properties at once' do
+    instance = SubPropertyDocument.new
+    expected = {"baz"=>{}}
+    assert_equal expected, instance.foo
+    assert_equal expected, instance.bar
+  end
+
   private
   def generic_response rows, count = 1
     {total_rows: count, offset:0, rows: rows}