diff --git a/dj_database_url.py b/dj_database_url.py
index 0fb9cd7..d5bfec7 100644
--- a/dj_database_url.py
+++ b/dj_database_url.py
@@ -10,13 +10,18 @@ urlparse.uses_netloc.append('sqlite')
 
 DEFAULT_ENV = 'DATABASE_URL'
 
-def config(env=DEFAULT_ENV):
+def config(env=DEFAULT_ENV, default=None):
     """Returns configured DATABASE dictionary from DATABASE_URL."""
 
     config = {}
 
     if env in os.environ:
-        config = parse(os.environ[env])
+        s = os.environ[env]
+    else:
+        s = default
+
+    if s:
+        config = parse()
 
     return config
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9a1bdf2..a9e2bf6 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from setuptools import setup
 
 setup(
     name='dj-database-url',
-    version='0.1.3',
+    version='0.1.4',
     url='https://github.com/kennethreitz/dj-database-url',
     license='BSD',
     author='Kenneth Reitz',