diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 69e2adc8..31183be3 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ Setting name (default value)                        What does it do?
                                                     supported extensions.
 `OUTPUT_PATH` (``'output/'``)                       Where to output the generated files.
 `PATH` (``None``)                                   Path to look at for input files.
+`PAGE_DIR' (``'pages'``)                            Directory to look at for pages.
+`PAGE_EXCLUDES' (``()``)                            A list of directories to exclude when looking for pages.
+`ARTICLE_DIR' (``''``)                              Directory to look at for articles.
+`ARTICLE_EXCLUDES': (``('pages',)``)                A list of directories to exclude when looking for articles.
 `PDF_GENERATOR` (``False``)                         Set to True if you want to have PDF versions
                                                     of your documents. You will need to install
                                                     `rst2pdf`.
diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 6ba12cf4..ac2cd865 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -211,10 +211,10 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
     def generate_context(self):
         """change the context"""
 
-        # return the list of files to use
-        files = self.get_files(self.path, exclude=['pages', ])
         all_articles = []
-        for f in files:
+        for f in self.get_files(
+                os.path.join(self.path, self.settings['ARTICLE_DIR']),
+                exclude=self.settings['ARTICLE_EXCLUDES']):
             try:
                 content, metadata = read_file(f, settings=self.settings)
             except Exception, e:
@@ -316,7 +316,9 @@ class PagesGenerator(Generator):
 
     def generate_context(self):
         all_pages = []
-        for f in self.get_files(os.sep.join((self.path, 'pages'))):
+        for f in self.get_files(
+                os.path.join(self.path, self.settings['PAGE_DIR']),
+                exclude=self.settings['PAGE_EXCLUDES']):
             try:
                 content, metadata = read_file(f)
             except Exception, e:
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 6ed76f46..1b31582f 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ from pelican import log
 DEFAULT_THEME = os.sep.join([os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),
                               "themes/notmyidea"])
 _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {'PATH': None,
+                   'ARTICLE_DIR': '',
+                   'ARTICLE_EXCLUDES': ('pages',),
+                   'PAGE_DIR': 'pages',
+                   'PAGE_EXCLUDES': (),
                    'THEME': DEFAULT_THEME,
                    'OUTPUT_PATH': 'output/',
                    'MARKUP': ('rst', 'md'),