diff --git a/siuba/sql/verbs.py b/siuba/sql/verbs.py
index 5ccb115c..a60bb898 100644
--- a/siuba/sql/verbs.py
+++ b/siuba/sql/verbs.py
@@ -141,28 +141,41 @@ def ordered_union(x, y):
 
 class LazyTbl:
     def __init__(
-            self, source, tbl, ops = None,
-            group_by = tuple(), order_by = tuple(), funcs = None,
+            self, source, tbl, columns = None,
+            ops = None, group_by = tuple(), order_by = tuple(), funcs = None,
             rm_attr = ('str', 'dt'), call_sub_attr = ('dt',)
             ):
+        """Create a representation of a SQL table.
+
+        Args:
+            source: a sqlalchemy.Engine or sqlalchemy.Connection instance.
+            tbl: table of form 'schema_name.table_name', 'table_name', or sqlalchemy.Table.
+            columns: if specified, a listlike of column names.
+
+        Examples
+        --------
+
+        ::
+            from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+            from siuba.data import mtcars
+
+            # create database and table
+            engine = create_engine("sqlite:///:memory:")
+            mtcars.to_sql('mtcars', engine)
+
+            tbl_mtcars = LazyTbl(engine, 'mtcars')
+            
+        """
         
         # connection and dialect specific functions
         self.source = sqlalchemy.create_engine(source) if isinstance(source, str) else source
         self.funcs = get_dialect_funcs(self.source.dialect.name) if funcs is None else funcs
 
-        if isinstance(tbl, str):
-            schema, table_name = tbl.split('.') if '.' in tbl else [None, tbl]
-            self.tbl = sqlalchemy.Table(
-                        table_name,
-                        sqlalchemy.MetaData(),
-                        autoload_with = self.source,
-                        schema = schema
-                        )
-        else:
-            self.tbl = tbl
+        self.tbl = self._create_table(tbl, columns, self.source)
 
         # important states the query can be in (e.g. grouped)
         self.ops = [sql.Select([self.tbl])] if ops is None else ops
+
         self.group_by = group_by
         self.order_by = order_by
 
@@ -170,6 +183,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.rm_attr = rm_attr
         self.call_sub_attr = call_sub_attr
 
+
     def append_op(self, op, **kwargs):
         cpy = self.copy(**kwargs)
         cpy.ops = cpy.ops + [op]
@@ -215,6 +229,37 @@ def get_ordered_col_names(self):
     def last_op(self):
         return self.ops[-1] if len(self.ops) else None
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _create_table(tbl, columns = None, source = None):
+        """Return a sqlalchemy.Table, autoloading column info if needed. 
+
+        Arguments:
+            tbl: a sqlalchemy.Table or string of form 'table_name' or 'schema_name.table_name'.
+            columns: a tuple of column names for the table. Overrides source argument.
+            source: a sqlalchemy engine, used to autoload columns.
+
+        """
+        if isinstance(tbl, sqlalchemy.Table):
+            return tbl
+        
+        if not isinstance(tbl, str):
+            raise ValueError("tbl must be a sqlalchemy Table or string, but was %s" %type(tbl))
+
+        if columns is None and source is None:
+            raise ValueError("One of columns or source must be specified")
+
+        schema, table_name = tbl.split('.') if '.' in tbl else [None, tbl]
+
+        columns = map(sqlalchemy.Column, columns) if columns is not None else tuple()
+
+        return sqlalchemy.Table(
+                table_name,
+                sqlalchemy.MetaData(),
+                *columns,
+                schema = schema,
+                autoload_with = source if not columns else None
+                )
+
     def _get_preview(self):
         # need to make prev op a cte, so we don't override any previous limit
         new_sel = sql.select([self.last_op.alias()]).limit(5)
diff --git a/siuba/tests/test_sql_verbs.py b/siuba/tests/test_sql_verbs.py
index 908c1f01..3fe32a65 100644
--- a/siuba/tests/test_sql_verbs.py
+++ b/siuba/tests/test_sql_verbs.py
@@ -41,6 +41,19 @@ def db():
     conn.execute(ins, id=2, name='wendy', fullname='Wendy Williams')
     yield conn
 
+# LazyTbl ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def test_lazy_tbl_table_string(db):
+    tbl = LazyTbl(db, 'addresses')
+    tbl.tbl.columns.user_id
+
+def test_lazy_tbl_manual_columns(db):
+    tbl = LazyTbl(db, 'addresses', columns = ('user_id', 'wrong_name'))
+    tbl.tbl.columns.wrong_name
+    tbl.tbl.columns.user_id
+
+    with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
+        tbl.tbl.columns.email_address
 
 # mutate ----------------------------------------------------------------------