diff --git a/README.mkd b/README.mkd
index 707f276..8e84b81 100644
--- a/README.mkd
+++ b/README.mkd
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ lots of progress bar alternatives, and we thank you for using ProgressBar!
 
 ## The Easy Way
 
-
     require 'progress_bar'
     bar = ProgressBar.new
 
@@ -39,11 +38,16 @@ it.*
 
 ## Setting the Max
 
-Usually, the defaults should be fine, the only thing you'll need to
-tweak is the max.
-
     bar = ProgressBar.new(1000)
 
+## Setting the progress bar characters
+
+By default, ProgressBar will use a default bar character to show progress and
+side delimiters. You can set any valid character that is supported by your
+terminal for either the bar character or the delimiters.
+
+    bar = ProgressBar.new(bar: '█', delimiters: '||')
+
 ## Larger Steps
 
 If you want to process several things, and update less often, you can
diff --git a/lib/progress_bar.rb b/lib/progress_bar.rb
index 19149cc..ca68b82 100644
--- a/lib/progress_bar.rb
+++ b/lib/progress_bar.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 require 'options'
 require 'highline'
 
@@ -6,18 +5,26 @@ class ProgressBar
   Error = Class.new(StandardError)
   ArgumentError = Class.new(Error)
 
-  attr_accessor :count, :max, :meters
+  DEFAULT_METERS = [:bar, :counter, :percentage, :elapsed, :eta, :rate]
 
-  def initialize(*args)
+  attr_accessor :count, :max, :meters, :bar, :delimiters
 
+  def initialize(*args, bar: '#', delimiters: '[]')
     @count      = 0
     @max        = 100
-    @meters     = [:bar, :counter, :percentage, :elapsed, :eta, :rate]
 
     @max        = args.shift if args.first.is_a? Numeric
     raise ArgumentError, "Max must be a positive integer" unless @max >= 0
 
-    @meters     = args unless args.empty?
+    @meters     = args.empty? ? DEFAULT_METERS : args
+
+    @bar        = bar # can be an emoji which itself can be a sequence of characters
+    raise ArgumentError, 'Bar must be a valid string' unless @bar&.is_a?(String)
+
+    @delimiters = delimiters
+    unless @delimiters&.size == 2
+      raise ArgumentError, 'Delimiters must be two characters'
+    end
 
     @last_write = ::Time.at(0)
     @start      = ::Time.now
@@ -73,8 +80,8 @@ def eta
 
   def to_s
     self.count = max if count > max
-    meters.inject("") do |text, meter|
-      text << render(meter) + " "
+    meters.inject('') do |text, meter|
+      text << render(meter) + ' '
     end.strip
   end
 
@@ -98,12 +105,14 @@ def width_of(meter)
 
   def render_bar
     return '' if bar_width < 2
+
     progress_width = (ratio * (bar_width - 2)).floor
     remainder_width = bar_width - 2 - progress_width
-    "[" +
-      "#" * progress_width +
-      " " * remainder_width +
-    "]"
+
+    delimiters[0] +
+      bar * progress_width +
+      ' ' * remainder_width +
+      delimiters[-1]
   end
 
   def render_counter
@@ -188,7 +197,6 @@ def format_interval(interval)
       "%02i:%02i" % [interval/60, interval%60]
     end
   end
-
 end
 
 require_relative 'progress_bar/with_progress'
diff --git a/spec/arguments_spec.rb b/spec/arguments_spec.rb
index 964dc8b..824fc83 100644
--- a/spec/arguments_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/arguments_spec.rb
@@ -6,35 +6,69 @@
     @default_meters = [:bar, :counter, :percentage, :elapsed, :eta, :rate]
   end
 
-  it "should set appropriate defaults without any arguments" do
+  it 'should set appropriate defaults without any arguments' do
     bar = ProgressBar.new
     bar.max.should == @default_max
     bar.meters.should == @default_meters
   end
 
-  it "should allow a single argument specifying the max" do
+  it 'should allow a single argument specifying the max' do
     bar = ProgressBar.new(123)
     bar.max.should == 123
     bar.meters.should == @default_meters
   end
 
-  it "should allow specifying just the meters" do
+  it 'should allow specifying just the meters' do
     bar = ProgressBar.new(:bar, :eta)
     bar.max.should == @default_max
     bar.meters.should == [:bar, :eta]
   end
 
-  it "should allow specyfing the max and meters" do
+  it 'should allow specifying the max and meters' do
     bar = ProgressBar.new(123, :bar, :eta)
     bar.max.should == 123
     bar.meters.should == [:bar, :eta]
   end
 
-  it "should raise an error when initial max is nonsense" do
+  it 'should allow specifying the bar and delimiters' do
+    bar = ProgressBar.new(bar: '$', delimiters: '||')
+    bar.bar.should == '$'
+    bar.delimiters.should == '||'
+  end
+
+  it 'should raise an error when initial max is nonsense' do
     lambda {
-      bar = ProgressBar.new(-1)
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(-1)
     }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
   end
 
-end
+  it 'should raise an error when bar is not a string' do
+    lambda {
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(bar: 5)
+    }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
+  end
+
+  it 'should raise an error when bar is empty' do
+    lambda {
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(bar: nil)
+    }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
+  end
+
+  it 'should raise an error when delimiters is less than two characters' do
+    lambda {
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(delimiters: '|')
+    }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
+  end
 
+  it 'should raise an error when delimiters is more than two characters' do
+    lambda {
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(delimiters: '|||')
+    }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
+  end
+
+  it 'should raise an error when delimiters is empty' do
+    lambda {
+      _bar = ProgressBar.new(delimiters: '')
+    }.should raise_error(ProgressBar::ArgumentError)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/bar_spec.rb b/spec/bar_spec.rb
index e8866c8..8e3c341 100644
--- a/spec/bar_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/bar_spec.rb
@@ -50,6 +50,4 @@
       end
     end
   end
-
 end
-
diff --git a/spec/counter_spec.rb b/spec/counter_spec.rb
index 65a6acc..0c294e2 100644
--- a/spec/counter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/counter_spec.rb
@@ -46,5 +46,4 @@
 
     it { should == '[   0/4242]' }
   end
-
 end
diff --git a/spec/elapsed_spec.rb b/spec/elapsed_spec.rb
index 4128e37..3eaf409 100644
--- a/spec/elapsed_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/elapsed_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'spec_helper'))
 
 describe 'ProgressBar elapsed output' do
@@ -43,6 +42,4 @@
 
     it { should == '[02:00:00]' }
   end
-
 end
-
diff --git a/spec/eta_spec.rb b/spec/eta_spec.rb
index 5c6bacf..c65837f 100644
--- a/spec/eta_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/eta_spec.rb
@@ -43,8 +43,4 @@
 
     it { should == '[02:00:00]' }
   end
-
 end
-
-
-
diff --git a/spec/percentage_spec.rb b/spec/percentage_spec.rb
index 6465f12..e48e158 100644
--- a/spec/percentage_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/percentage_spec.rb
@@ -39,6 +39,4 @@
 
     it { should == '[ 50.00%]' }
   end
-
 end
-
diff --git a/spec/progress_bar_characters_spec.rb b/spec/progress_bar_characters_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6330007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/progress_bar_characters_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'spec_helper'))
+
+describe 'ProgressBar bar output with custom characters' do
+  before do
+    Timecop.freeze Time.utc(2010, 3, 10, 0, 0, 0)
+    @progress_bar = ProgressBar.new(100, bar: '█', delimiters: '▕▏')
+    @progress_bar.stub(:terminal_width) { 60 }
+    Timecop.freeze Time.utc(2010, 3, 10, 0, 0, 10) # 10 seconds later
+  end
+
+  subject { @progress_bar.to_s }
+
+  describe 'at count=0' do
+    before do
+      @progress_bar.count = 0
+    end
+
+    it { should == '▕              ▏ [  0/100] [  0%] [00:10] [00:00] [  0.00/s]' }
+  end
+
+  describe 'at count=50' do
+    before do
+      @progress_bar.count = 50
+    end
+
+    it { should == '▕███████       ▏ [ 50/100] [ 50%] [00:10] [00:10] [  5.00/s]' }
+  end
+
+  describe 'at count=100' do
+    before do
+      @progress_bar.count = 100
+    end
+
+    it { should == '▕██████████████▏ [100/100] [100%] [00:10] [00:00] [ 10.00/s]' }
+  end
+
+  describe 'at count=105' do
+    before do
+      @progress_bar.count = 105
+    end
+
+    it { should == '▕██████████████▏ [100/100] [100%] [00:10] [00:00] [ 10.00/s]' }
+  end
+
+  describe 'at count=100 with a multi-sequence emoji' do
+    before do
+      @progress_bar.count = 100
+      @progress_bar.bar = "🏴‍☠️"
+    end
+
+    it { should == '▕🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️▏ [100/100] [100%] [00:10] [00:00] [ 10.00/s]' }
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/progress_bar_spec.rb b/spec/progress_bar_spec.rb
index f69f8e6..c4d8126 100644
--- a/spec/progress_bar_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/progress_bar_spec.rb
@@ -41,7 +41,4 @@
 
     it { should == "[##############] [100/100] [100%] [00:10] [00:00] [ 10.00/s]" }
   end
-
 end
-
-
diff --git a/spec/rate_spec.rb b/spec/rate_spec.rb
index 8171c04..53ce38e 100644
--- a/spec/rate_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rate_spec.rb
@@ -54,10 +54,4 @@
 
     it { should == '[   2.10/s]' }
   end
-
 end
-
-
-
-
-
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 63cc043..773b3c6 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib/progress_bar'))
 
 require 'rspec'
@@ -9,4 +8,3 @@
     Timecop.return
   end
 end
-