diff --git a/serde_codegen/src/attr.rs b/serde_codegen/src/attr.rs
index a7d4af55..2c7b750a 100644
--- a/serde_codegen/src/attr.rs
+++ b/serde_codegen/src/attr.rs
@@ -28,6 +28,35 @@ pub struct ContainerAttrs {
 }
 
 impl ContainerAttrs {
+    /// Extract out the `#[serde(...)]` attributes from an item.
+    pub fn from_item(cx: &ExtCtxt, item: &ast::Item) -> Result<ContainerAttrs, Error> {
+        let mut container_attrs = ContainerAttrs {
+            deny_unknown_fields: false,
+        };
+
+        for meta_items in item.attrs().iter().filter_map(get_serde_meta_items) {
+            for meta_item in meta_items {
+                match meta_item.node {
+                    // Parse `#[serde(deny_unknown_fields)]`
+                    ast::MetaWord(ref name) if name == &"deny_unknown_fields" => {
+                        container_attrs.deny_unknown_fields = true;
+                    }
+
+                    _ => {
+                        cx.span_err(
+                            meta_item.span,
+                            &format!("unknown serde container attribute `{}`",
+                                     meta_item_to_string(meta_item)));
+
+                        return Err(Error);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(container_attrs)
+    }
+
     pub fn deny_unknown_fields(&self) -> bool {
         self.deny_unknown_fields
     }
@@ -275,79 +304,6 @@ impl<'a> FieldAttrsBuilder<'a> {
     }
 }
 
-pub struct ContainerAttrsBuilder<'a> {
-    cx: &'a ExtCtxt<'a>,
-    deny_unknown_fields: bool,
-}
-
-impl<'a> ContainerAttrsBuilder<'a> {
-    pub fn new(cx: &'a ExtCtxt) -> Self {
-        ContainerAttrsBuilder {
-            cx: cx,
-            deny_unknown_fields: false,
-        }
-    }
-
-    pub fn attrs(mut self, attrs: &[ast::Attribute]) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        for attr in attrs {
-            self = try!(self.attr(attr));
-        }
-
-        Ok(self)
-    }
-
-    pub fn attr(mut self, attr: &ast::Attribute) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        match attr.node.value.node {
-            ast::MetaList(ref name, ref items) if name == &"serde" => {
-                attr::mark_used(&attr);
-                for item in items {
-                    self = try!(self.meta_item(item));
-                }
-
-                Ok(self)
-            }
-            _ => {
-                Ok(self)
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    pub fn meta_item(self, meta_item: &P<ast::MetaItem>) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        match meta_item.node {
-            ast::MetaWord(ref name) if name == &"deny_unknown_fields" => {
-                Ok(self.deny_unknown_fields())
-            }
-            _ => {
-                self.cx.span_err(
-                    meta_item.span,
-                    &format!("unknown serde container attribute `{}`",
-                             meta_item_to_string(meta_item)));
-                Err(Error)
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    pub fn deny_unknown_fields(mut self) -> Self {
-        self.deny_unknown_fields = true;
-        self
-    }
-
-    pub fn build(self) -> ContainerAttrs {
-        ContainerAttrs {
-            deny_unknown_fields: self.deny_unknown_fields,
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-/// Extract out the `#[serde(...)]` attributes from an item.
-pub fn get_container_attrs(cx: &ExtCtxt,
-                           container: &ast::Item,
-                          ) -> Result<ContainerAttrs, Error> {
-    let builder = ContainerAttrsBuilder::new(cx);
-    let builder = try!(builder.attrs(container.attrs()));
-    Ok(builder.build())
-}
-
 /// Extract out the `#[serde(...)]` attributes from a struct field.
 pub fn get_struct_field_attrs(cx: &ExtCtxt,
                               builder: &aster::AstBuilder,
@@ -363,3 +319,13 @@ pub fn get_struct_field_attrs(cx: &ExtCtxt,
 
     Ok(attrs)
 }
+
+fn get_serde_meta_items(attr: &ast::Attribute) -> Option<&[P<ast::MetaItem>]> {
+    match attr.node.value.node {
+        ast::MetaList(ref name, ref items) if name == &"serde" => {
+            attr::mark_used(&attr);
+            Some(items)
+        }
+        _ => None
+    }
+}
diff --git a/serde_codegen/src/de.rs b/serde_codegen/src/de.rs
index 5a893e5f..f83892e6 100644
--- a/serde_codegen/src/de.rs
+++ b/serde_codegen/src/de.rs
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ use syntax::ext::base::{Annotatable, ExtCtxt};
 use syntax::ext::build::AstBuilder;
 use syntax::ptr::P;
 
-use attr::{self, ContainerAttrs};
-
+use attr;
 use error::Error;
 
 pub fn expand_derive_deserialize(
@@ -88,7 +87,7 @@ fn deserialize_body(
     impl_generics: &ast::Generics,
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
-    let container_attrs = try!(attr::get_container_attrs(cx, item));
+    let container_attrs = try!(attr::ContainerAttrs::from_item(cx, item));
 
     match item.node {
         ast::ItemStruct(ref variant_data, _) => {
@@ -129,7 +128,7 @@ fn deserialize_item_struct(
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
     span: Span,
     variant_data: &ast::VariantData,
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     match *variant_data {
         ast::VariantData::Unit(_) => {
@@ -478,7 +477,7 @@ fn deserialize_struct(
     impl_generics: &ast::Generics,
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
     fields: &[ast::StructField],
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     let where_clause = &impl_generics.where_clause;
 
@@ -544,7 +543,7 @@ fn deserialize_item_enum(
     impl_generics: &ast::Generics,
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
     enum_def: &EnumDef,
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     let where_clause = &impl_generics.where_clause;
 
@@ -642,7 +641,7 @@ fn deserialize_variant(
     generics: &ast::Generics,
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
     variant: &ast::Variant,
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     let variant_ident = variant.node.name;
 
@@ -735,7 +734,7 @@ fn deserialize_struct_variant(
     generics: &ast::Generics,
     ty: P<ast::Ty>,
     fields: &[ast::StructField],
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     let where_clause = &generics.where_clause;
 
@@ -799,7 +798,7 @@ fn deserialize_field_visitor(
     cx: &ExtCtxt,
     builder: &aster::AstBuilder,
     field_attrs: Vec<attr::FieldAttrs>,
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Vec<P<ast::Item>> {
     // Create the field names for the fields.
     let field_idents: Vec<ast::Ident> = (0 .. field_attrs.len())
@@ -963,7 +962,7 @@ fn deserialize_struct_visitor(
     builder: &aster::AstBuilder,
     struct_path: ast::Path,
     fields: &[ast::StructField],
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<(Vec<P<ast::Item>>, P<ast::Stmt>, P<ast::Expr>), Error> {
     let field_visitor = deserialize_field_visitor(
         cx,
@@ -1006,7 +1005,7 @@ fn deserialize_map(
     builder: &aster::AstBuilder,
     struct_path: ast::Path,
     fields: &[ast::StructField],
-    container_attrs: &ContainerAttrs,
+    container_attrs: &attr::ContainerAttrs,
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     // Create the field names for the fields.
     let field_names: Vec<ast::Ident> = (0 .. fields.len())
diff --git a/serde_codegen/src/ser.rs b/serde_codegen/src/ser.rs
index 7a61c6a2..0c8ee210 100644
--- a/serde_codegen/src/ser.rs
+++ b/serde_codegen/src/ser.rs
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ fn serialize_body(
 ) -> Result<P<ast::Expr>, Error> {
     // Note: While we don't have any container attributes, we still want to try to
     // parse them so we can report a proper error if we get passed an unknown attribute.
-    let _ = try!(attr::get_container_attrs(cx, item));
+    let _container_attrs = try!(attr::ContainerAttrs::from_item(cx, item));
 
     match item.node {
         ast::ItemStruct(ref variant_data, _) => {