diff --git a/cmd/helm/helm.go b/cmd/helm/helm.go
index da49834c5..912d5f721 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/helm.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/helm.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -40,12 +41,14 @@ const (
 	localRepoIndexFilePath = "index.yaml"
 	homeEnvVar             = "HELM_HOME"
 	hostEnvVar             = "HELM_HOST"
+	tillerNamespaceEnvVar  = "TILLER_NAMESPACE"
 )
 
 var (
-	helmHome    string
-	tillerHost  string
-	kubeContext string
+	helmHome        string
+	tillerHost      string
+	tillerNamespace string
+	kubeContext     string
 )
 
 // flagDebug is a signal that the user wants additional output.
@@ -68,9 +71,10 @@ Common actions from this point include:
 - helm list:      list releases of charts
 
 Environment:
-  $HELM_HOME      set an alternative location for Helm files. By default, these are stored in ~/.helm
-  $HELM_HOST      set an alternative Tiller host. The format is host:port
-  $KUBECONFIG     set an alternate Kubernetes configuration file (default "~/.kube/config")
+  $HELM_HOME          set an alternative location for Helm files. By default, these are stored in ~/.helm
+  $HELM_HOST          set an alternative Tiller host. The format is host:port
+  $TILLER_NAMESPACE   set an alternative Tiller namespace (default "kube-namespace")
+  $KUBECONFIG         set an alternative Kubernetes configuration file (default "~/.kube/config")
 `
 
 func newRootCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
@@ -83,16 +87,12 @@ func newRootCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 			teardown()
 		},
 	}
-	home := os.Getenv(homeEnvVar)
-	if home == "" {
-		home = "$HOME/.helm"
-	}
-	thost := os.Getenv(hostEnvVar)
 	p := cmd.PersistentFlags()
-	p.StringVar(&helmHome, "home", home, "location of your Helm config. Overrides $HELM_HOME")
-	p.StringVar(&tillerHost, "host", thost, "address of tiller. Overrides $HELM_HOST")
+	p.StringVar(&helmHome, "home", defaultHelmHome(), "location of your Helm config. Overrides $HELM_HOME")
+	p.StringVar(&tillerHost, "host", defaultHelmHost(), "address of tiller. Overrides $HELM_HOST")
 	p.StringVar(&kubeContext, "kube-context", "", "name of the kubeconfig context to use")
 	p.BoolVar(&flagDebug, "debug", false, "enable verbose output")
+	p.StringVar(&tillerNamespace, "tiller-namespace", defaultTillerNamespace(), "namespace of tiller")
 
 	// Tell gRPC not to log to console.
 	grpclog.SetLogger(log.New(ioutil.Discard, "", log.LstdFlags))
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func main() {
 
 func setupConnection(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if tillerHost == "" {
-		tunnel, err := newTillerPortForwarder(environment.TillerNamespace, kubeContext)
+		tunnel, err := newTillerPortForwarder(tillerNamespace, kubeContext)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -194,10 +194,28 @@ func prettyError(err error) error {
 	return errors.New(grpc.ErrorDesc(err))
 }
 
+func defaultHelmHome() string {
+	if home := os.Getenv(homeEnvVar); home != "" {
+		return home
+	}
+	return filepath.Join(os.Getenv("HOME"), ".helm")
+}
+
 func homePath() string {
 	return os.ExpandEnv(helmHome)
 }
 
+func defaultHelmHost() string {
+	return os.Getenv(hostEnvVar)
+}
+
+func defaultTillerNamespace() string {
+	if ns := os.Getenv(tillerNamespaceEnvVar); ns != "" {
+		return ns
+	}
+	return environment.DefaultTillerNamespace
+}
+
 // getKubeClient is a convenience method for creating kubernetes config and client
 // for a given kubeconfig context
 func getKubeClient(context string) (*restclient.Config, *internalclientset.Clientset, error) {
diff --git a/cmd/helm/init.go b/cmd/helm/init.go
index c7a9b24c8..11f140067 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/init.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/init.go
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/helm/cmd/helm/helmpath"
 	"k8s.io/helm/cmd/helm/installer"
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/repo"
-	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/tiller/environment"
 )
 
 const initDesc = `
@@ -75,8 +74,7 @@ type initCmd struct {
 
 func newInitCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	i := &initCmd{
-		out:       out,
-		namespace: environment.TillerNamespace,
+		out: out,
 	}
 
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
@@ -87,6 +85,7 @@ func newInitCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 			if len(args) != 0 {
 				return errors.New("This command does not accept arguments")
 			}
+			i.namespace = tillerNamespace
 			i.home = helmpath.Home(homePath())
 			return i.run()
 		},
diff --git a/cmd/helm/installer/install.go b/cmd/helm/installer/install.go
index 1cccb8605..09f3f6ea5 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/installer/install.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/installer/install.go
@@ -88,7 +88,12 @@ func generateDeployment(namespace, image string) *extensions.Deployment {
 							Name:            "tiller",
 							Image:           image,
 							ImagePullPolicy: "IfNotPresent",
-							Ports:           []api.ContainerPort{{ContainerPort: 44134, Name: "tiller"}},
+							Ports: []api.ContainerPort{
+								{ContainerPort: 44134, Name: "tiller"},
+							},
+							Env: []api.EnvVar{
+								{Name: "TILLER_NAMESPACE", Value: namespace},
+							},
 							LivenessProbe: &api.Probe{
 								Handler: api.Handler{
 									HTTPGet: &api.HTTPGetAction{
diff --git a/cmd/helm/installer/install_test.go b/cmd/helm/installer/install_test.go
index 7a43660ac..dc9114074 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/installer/install_test.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/installer/install_test.go
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ func TestDeploymentManifest(t *testing.T) {
 		if got := dep.Spec.Template.Spec.Containers[0].Image; got != tt.expect {
 			t.Errorf("%s: expected image %q, got %q", tt.name, tt.expect, got)
 		}
+
+		if got := dep.Spec.Template.Spec.Containers[0].Env[0].Value; got != api.NamespaceDefault {
+			t.Errorf("%s: expected namespace %q, got %q", tt.name, api.NamespaceDefault, got)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/tiller/tiller.go b/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
index 4009c2a24..79c31bc82 100644
--- a/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
+++ b/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ package main // import "k8s.io/helm/cmd/tiller"
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
@@ -70,9 +72,11 @@ var rootCommand = &cobra.Command{
 	Run:   start,
 }
 
-func main() {
+func init() {
 	log.SetFlags(log.Flags() | log.Lshortfile)
+}
 
+func main() {
 	p := rootCommand.PersistentFlags()
 	p.StringVarP(&grpcAddr, "listen", "l", ":44134", "address:port to listen on")
 	p.StringVar(&store, "storage", storageConfigMap, "storage driver to use. One of 'configmap' or 'memory'")
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ func start(c *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	case storageMemory:
 		env.Releases = storage.Init(driver.NewMemory())
 	case storageConfigMap:
-		env.Releases = storage.Init(driver.NewConfigMaps(clientset.Core().ConfigMaps(environment.TillerNamespace)))
+		env.Releases = storage.Init(driver.NewConfigMaps(clientset.Core().ConfigMaps(namespace())))
 	}
 
 	lstn, err := net.Listen("tcp", grpcAddr)
@@ -132,3 +136,19 @@ func start(c *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Probes server died: %s\n", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// namespace returns the namespace of tiller
+func namespace() string {
+	if ns := os.Getenv("POD_NAMESPACE"); ns != "" {
+		return ns
+	}
+
+	// Fall back to the namespace associated with the service account token, if available
+	if data, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace"); err == nil {
+		if ns := strings.TrimSpace(string(data)); len(ns) > 0 {
+			return ns
+		}
+	}
+
+	return environment.DefaultTillerNamespace
+}
diff --git a/docs/install.md b/docs/install.md
index df7295e24..677ffeb79 100644
--- a/docs/install.md
+++ b/docs/install.md
@@ -110,12 +110,16 @@ You can explicitly tell `helm init` to...
 - Install the canary build with the `--canary-image` flag
 - Install a particular image (version) with `--tiller-image`
 - Install to a particular cluster with `--kube-context`
+- Install into a particular namespace with `--tiller-namespace`
 
 Once Tiller is installed, running `helm version` should show you both
 the client and server version. (If it shows only the client version,
 `helm` cannot yet connect to the server. Use `kubectl` to see if any
 `tiller` pods are running.)
 
+If Helm will look for Tiller in the `kube-system` namespace unless
+`--tiller-namespace` or `TILLER_NAMESPACE` is set.
+
 ### Installing Tiller Canary Builds
 
 Canary images are built from the `master` branch. They may not be
diff --git a/pkg/tiller/environment/environment.go b/pkg/tiller/environment/environment.go
index 1b2aa4e6d..1bd5bb96f 100644
--- a/pkg/tiller/environment/environment.go
+++ b/pkg/tiller/environment/environment.go
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/storage/driver"
 )
 
-// TillerNamespace is the namespace tiller is running in.
-const TillerNamespace = "kube-system"
+// DefaultTillerNamespace is the default namespace for tiller.
+const DefaultTillerNamespace = "kube-system"
 
 // GoTplEngine is the name of the Go template engine, as registered in the EngineYard.
 const GoTplEngine = "gotpl"