diff --git a/builtin/providers/postgresql/helpers.go b/builtin/providers/postgresql/helpers.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db61713dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builtin/providers/postgresql/helpers.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package postgresql
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// pqQuoteLiteral returns a string literal safe for inclusion in a PostgreSQL
+// query as a parameter.  The resulting string still needs to be wrapped in
+// single quotes in SQL (i.e. fmt.Sprintf(`'%s'`, pqQuoteLiteral("str"))).  See
+// quote_literal_internal() in postgresql/backend/utils/adt/quote.c:77.
+func pqQuoteLiteral(in string) string {
+	in = strings.Replace(in, `\`, `\\`, -1)
+	in = strings.Replace(in, `'`, `''`, -1)
+	return in
+}
+
+func validateConnLimit(v interface{}, key string) (warnings []string, errors []error) {
+	value := v.(int)
+	if value < -1 {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf("%d can not be less than -1", key))
+	}
+	return
+}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/postgresql/resource_postgresql_database.go b/builtin/providers/postgresql/resource_postgresql_database.go
index 4d3fe297c..0f0f1c363 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/postgresql/resource_postgresql_database.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/postgresql/resource_postgresql_database.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package postgresql
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"database/sql"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -112,134 +113,70 @@ func resourcePostgreSQLDatabaseCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 	}
 	defer conn.Close()
 
-	stringOpts := []struct {
-		hclKey string
-		sqlKey string
-	}{
-		{dbOwnerAttr, "OWNER"},
-		{dbTemplateAttr, "TEMPLATE"},
-		{dbEncodingAttr, "ENCODING"},
-		{dbCollationAttr, "LC_COLLATE"},
-		{dbCTypeAttr, "LC_CTYPE"},
-		{dbTablespaceAttr, "TABLESPACE"},
-	}
-	intOpts := []struct {
-		hclKey string
-		sqlKey string
-	}{
-		{dbConnLimitAttr, "CONNECTION LIMIT"},
-	}
-	boolOpts := []struct {
-		hclKey string
-		sqlKey string
-	}{
-		{dbAllowConnsAttr, "ALLOW_CONNECTIONS"},
-		{dbIsTemplateAttr, "IS_TEMPLATE"},
-	}
-
-	createOpts := make([]string, 0, len(stringOpts)+len(intOpts)+len(boolOpts))
-
-	for _, opt := range stringOpts {
-		v, ok := d.GetOk(opt.hclKey)
-		var val string
-		if !ok {
-			switch {
-			case opt.hclKey == dbOwnerAttr && v.(string) == "":
-				// No owner specified in the config, default to using
-				// the connecting username.
-				val = c.username
-			case strings.ToUpper(v.(string)) == "DEFAULT" &&
-				(opt.hclKey == dbTemplateAttr ||
-					opt.hclKey == dbEncodingAttr ||
-					opt.hclKey == dbCollationAttr ||
-					opt.hclKey == dbCTypeAttr):
-
-				// Use the defaults from the template database
-				// as opposed to best practices.
-				fallthrough
-			default:
-				continue
-			}
-		}
-
-		val = v.(string)
-
-		switch {
-		case opt.hclKey == dbOwnerAttr && (val == "" || strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT"):
-			// Owner was blank/DEFAULT, default to using the connecting username.
-			val = c.username
-			d.Set(dbOwnerAttr, val)
-		case opt.hclKey == dbTablespaceAttr && (val == "" || strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT"):
-			val = "pg_default"
-			d.Set(dbTablespaceAttr, val)
-		case opt.hclKey == dbTemplateAttr:
-			switch {
-			case val == "":
-				val = "template0"
-				d.Set(dbTemplateAttr, val)
-			case strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT":
-				val = ""
-			default:
-				d.Set(dbTemplateAttr, val)
-			}
-		case opt.hclKey == dbEncodingAttr:
-			switch {
-			case val == "":
-				val = "UTF8"
-				d.Set(dbEncodingAttr, val)
-			case strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT":
-				val = ""
-			default:
-				d.Set(dbEncodingAttr, val)
-			}
-		case opt.hclKey == dbCollationAttr:
-			switch {
-			case val == "":
-				val = "C"
-				d.Set(dbCollationAttr, val)
-			case strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT":
-				val = ""
-			default:
-				d.Set(dbCollationAttr, val)
-			}
-		case opt.hclKey == dbCTypeAttr:
-			switch {
-			case val == "":
-				val = "C"
-				d.Set(dbCTypeAttr, val)
-			case strings.ToUpper(val) == "DEFAULT":
-				val = ""
-			default:
-				d.Set(dbCTypeAttr, val)
-			}
-		}
-
-		if val != "" {
-			createOpts = append(createOpts, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", opt.sqlKey, pq.QuoteIdentifier(val)))
-		}
-	}
-
-	for _, opt := range intOpts {
-		val := d.Get(opt.hclKey).(int)
-		createOpts = append(createOpts, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%d", opt.sqlKey, val))
-	}
-
-	for _, opt := range boolOpts {
-		val := d.Get(opt.hclKey).(bool)
-
-		valStr := "FALSE"
-		if val {
-			valStr = "TRUE"
-		}
-		createOpts = append(createOpts, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", opt.sqlKey, valStr))
-	}
-
 	dbName := d.Get(dbNameAttr).(string)
-	createStr := strings.Join(createOpts, " ")
-	if len(createOpts) > 0 {
-		createStr = " WITH " + createStr
+	b := bytes.NewBufferString("CREATE DATABASE ")
+	fmt.Fprint(b, pq.QuoteIdentifier(dbName))
+
+	// Handle each option individually and stream results into the query
+	// buffer.
+
+	switch v, ok := d.GetOk(dbOwnerAttr); {
+	case ok:
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " OWNER ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	default:
+		// No owner specified in the config, default to using
+		// the connecting username.
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " OWNER ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(c.username))
 	}
-	query := fmt.Sprintf("CREATE DATABASE %s%s", pq.QuoteIdentifier(dbName), createStr)
+
+	switch v, ok := d.GetOk(dbTemplateAttr); {
+	case ok:
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " TEMPLATE ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	case v.(string) == "", strings.ToUpper(v.(string)) != "DEFAULT":
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " TEMPLATE template0")
+	}
+
+	switch v, ok := d.GetOk(dbEncodingAttr); {
+	case ok:
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " ENCODING ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	case v.(string) == "", strings.ToUpper(v.(string)) != "DEFAULT":
+		fmt.Fprint(b, ` ENCODING "UTF8"`)
+	}
+
+	switch v, ok := d.GetOk(dbCollationAttr); {
+	case ok:
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " LC_COLLATE ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	case v.(string) == "", strings.ToUpper(v.(string)) != "DEFAULT":
+		fmt.Fprint(b, ` LC_COLLATE "C"`)
+	}
+
+	switch v, ok := d.GetOk(dbCTypeAttr); {
+	case ok:
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " LC_CTYPE ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	case v.(string) == "", strings.ToUpper(v.(string)) != "DEFAULT":
+		fmt.Fprint(b, ` LC_CTYPE "C"`)
+	}
+
+	if v, ok := d.GetOk(dbTablespaceAttr); ok {
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " TABLESPACE ", pq.QuoteIdentifier(v.(string)))
+	}
+
+	{
+		val := d.Get(dbAllowConnsAttr).(bool)
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " ALLOW_CONNECTIONS ", val)
+	}
+
+	{
+		val := d.Get(dbConnLimitAttr).(int)
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " CONNECTION LIMIT ", val)
+	}
+
+	{
+		val := d.Get(dbIsTemplateAttr).(bool)
+		fmt.Fprint(b, " IS_TEMPLATE ", val)
+	}
+
+	query := b.String()
 	_, err = conn.Query(query)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errwrap.Wrapf(fmt.Sprintf("Error creating database %s: {{err}}", dbName), err)
@@ -296,7 +233,7 @@ func resourcePostgreSQLDatabaseRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 	err = conn.QueryRow("SELECT d.datname, pg_catalog.pg_get_userbyid(d.datdba) from pg_database d WHERE datname=$1", dbId).Scan(&dbName, &ownerName)
 	switch {
 	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
-		log.Printf("[WARN] PostgreSQL database (%s) not found", d.Id())
+		log.Printf("[WARN] PostgreSQL database (%s) not found", dbId)
 		d.SetId("")
 		return nil
 	case err != nil:
@@ -313,7 +250,7 @@ func resourcePostgreSQLDatabaseRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 		)
 	switch {
 	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
-		log.Printf("[WARN] PostgreSQL database (%s) not found", d.Id())
+		log.Printf("[WARN] PostgreSQL database (%s) not found", dbId)
 		d.SetId("")
 		return nil
 	case err != nil:
diff --git a/builtin/providers/postgresql/validators.go b/builtin/providers/postgresql/validators.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 8bc75209e..000000000
--- a/builtin/providers/postgresql/validators.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-package postgresql
-
-import "fmt"
-
-func validateConnLimit(v interface{}, key string) (warnings []string, errors []error) {
-	value := v.(int)
-	if value < -1 {
-		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf("%d can not be less than -1", key))
-	}
-	return
-}