diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f87a7e8..fd34989 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,4 +5,3 @@
 !/posts/README.md
 /cache
 /config.toml
-/custom
diff --git a/CONFIG.md b/CONFIG.md
index cca2107..071dde9 100644
--- a/CONFIG.md
+++ b/CONFIG.md
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ link = "https://..."   # public url of the blog, required if rss is enabled
 [dirs]
 posts = "posts"        # where posts are stored
 media = "media"        # directory served under /media/
-custom_templates = "custom/templates" # custom templates dir
-custom_static = "custom/static"       # custom static dir
+custom_templates = "templates" # custom templates dir
+custom_static = "static"       # custom static dir
                        # see CUSTOM.md for documentation
 [http]
 host = "0.0.0.0"       # ip to listen on
diff --git a/CUSTOM.md b/CUSTOM.md
index 7b4b5a9..a9fcdcf 100644
--- a/CUSTOM.md
+++ b/CUSTOM.md
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ customizing the error page, other than CSS, is not supported at this time.
 
 ## Custom Templates
 
-custom templates are loaded from `custom/templates` by default and they are
-written in [Handlebars (the rust variant)](https://crates.io/crates/handlebars)
+custom templates are written in
+[Handlebars (the rust variant)](https://crates.io/crates/handlebars).
 
 the *custom templates directory* has a non-recursive structure:
 
@@ -47,4 +47,3 @@ under `/static`.
 
 the endpoint `/media` is served from `dirs.media`. no other logic or mechanism
 is present.
-
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 4f9c42b..3fc6eb3 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ impl Default for DirsConfig {
         Self {
             posts: "posts".into(),
             media: "media".into(),
-            custom_static: "custom/static".into(),
-            custom_templates: "custom/templates".into(),
+            custom_static: "static".into(),
+            custom_templates: "templates".into(),
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 5b4411a..03004c5 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
 
     let start = Instant::now();
     // NOTE: use tokio::task::spawn_blocking if this ever turns into a concurrent task
-    let mut reg =
-        new_registry("custom/templates").context("failed to create handlebars registry")?;
+    let mut reg = new_registry(&config.dirs.custom_templates)
+        .context("failed to create handlebars registry")?;
     reg.register_helper("date", Box::new(helpers::date));
     reg.register_helper("duration", Box::new(helpers::duration));
     debug!(duration = ?start.elapsed(), "registered all templates");
@@ -88,8 +88,12 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
 
     debug!("setting up watcher");
     tasks.spawn(
-        watch_templates("custom/templates", watcher_token.clone(), reg)
-            .instrument(info_span!("custom_template_watcher")),
+        watch_templates(
+            config.dirs.custom_templates.clone(),
+            watcher_token.clone(),
+            reg,
+        )
+        .instrument(info_span!("custom_template_watcher")),
     );
 
     if config.cache.enable && config.cache.cleanup {