diff --git a/R/forester.R b/R/forester.R
index a8db07b..f52297a 100644
--- a/R/forester.R
+++ b/R/forester.R
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #' @param point_sizes Vector. Length should be equal to 1 or nrow(left_side_data). The sizes of the points in the center plot, where 3.25 is the default.
 #' @param point_shapes Vector. Length should be equal to 1 or nrow(left_side_data). The shapes of the points in the center plot, where 16 (a filled circle) is the default.
 #' @param center_ggplot A ggplot object to use instead of the central plot.
+#' @param render_as What output format should be used? Default is "image", the only other option currently is "rmarkdown".
 #'
 #' @return image
 #' @importFrom rlang .data
@@ -48,10 +49,10 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
                     file_path = here::here("forester_plot.png"),
                     dpi = 600,
                     display = TRUE,
-                    blank_na = TRUE,
                     font_family = "mono",
                     estimate_col_name = "Estimate",
                     stripe_colour = "#eff3f2",
+                    background_colour = "white",
                     x_scale_linear = TRUE,
                     xlim = NULL,
                     xbreaks = NULL,
@@ -64,21 +65,39 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
                     add_plot_gap = FALSE,
                     point_sizes = 3,
                     point_shapes = 16,
-                    center_ggplot = NULL){
-
-  theme <- gridExtra::ttheme_minimal(core=list(
-    fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05, fontfamily = font_family),
-    bg_params = list(fill=c(rep(c(stripe_colour, "white"), length.out=nrow(left_side_data)), "white", "white", "white"))
-  ),
-    colhead = list(fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05,
+                    center_ggplot = NULL,
+                    lower_header_row = FALSE,
+                    render_as = "image"){
+
+  if(lower_header_row == FALSE){
+    theme <- gridExtra::ttheme_minimal(core=list(
+      fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05, fontfamily = font_family),
+      bg_params = list(fill=c(rep(c(stripe_colour, background_colour), length.out=nrow(left_side_data)), background_colour, background_colour, background_colour))
+    ),
+      colhead = list(fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05,
                                     fontfamily = font_family),
-                   bg_params = list(fill = "white"))
-  )
+                   bg_params = list(fill = background_colour))
+    )
+  }else{
+    theme <- gridExtra::ttheme_minimal(core=list(
+      fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05, fontfamily = font_family),
+      bg_params = list(fill=c(rep(c(background_colour, stripe_colour), length.out=nrow(left_side_data)), background_colour, background_colour, background_colour))
+    ),
+    colhead = list(fg_params = list(hjust = 0, x = 0.05,
+                                    fontfamily = font_family,
+                                    fill = background_colour),
+                   bg_params = list(fill = background_colour))
+    )
+  }
 
   gdata <- data.frame(estimate = estimate,
                     ci_low = ci_low,
                     ci_high = ci_high)
 
+  if(lower_header_row){
+    gdata <- add_row(gdata, .before = 1)
+  }
+
   if(is.null(right_side_data)){
     tdata <- gdata
 
@@ -155,6 +174,9 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
   total_width <- left_width + right_width + ggplot_width
 
   tdata_print <- left_side_data
+
+  if(lower_header_row){rbind.data.frame(colnames(tdata_print), tdata_print)}
+
   tdata_print$` ` <- paste(rep(" ", times = round(ggplot_width, 0)),
                            collapse = '')
   tdata_print <- cbind(tdata_print, right_side_data)
@@ -163,10 +185,10 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
   tdata_print <- tibble::add_row(tdata_print)
   tdata_print <- tibble::add_row(tdata_print)
 
-  if(blank_na == TRUE){
-    tdata_print <- dplyr::mutate_all(tdata_print, as.character)
-    tdata_print[is.na(tdata_print)] <- " "
-  }
+  tdata_print <- dplyr::mutate_all(tdata_print, as.character)
+  tdata_print[is.na(tdata_print)] <- " "
+
+  ## formatting functions
 
   mono_column <- function(table, col){
     col_indexes <- function(table, col, name="core-fg"){
@@ -192,7 +214,7 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
     ind_fg <- col_indexes(table, col, "core-fg")
 
     for(i in ind){
-      table$grobs[i][[1]][["gp"]] <- grid::gpar(fill = "white", col = "white")
+      table$grobs[i][[1]][["gp"]] <- grid::gpar(fill = background_colour, col = background_colour)
     }
 
     for(i in ind_fg){
@@ -503,17 +525,20 @@ forester <- function(left_side_data,
   }
 
   ######### save the plot as a png, then display it with magick ################
-
-  ggplot2::ggsave(dpi = dpi,
+  if(render_as == "image"){
+    ggplot2::ggsave(dpi = dpi,
          height = png_height,
          width = png_width, units = "in",
          filename = file_path)
 
-  if(display == TRUE){
-    magick::image_resize(magick::image_read(file_path),
+    if(display == TRUE){
+      magick::image_resize(magick::image_read(file_path),
                          paste0(grDevices::dev.size("px")[1],
                                 "x",
                                 grDevices::dev.size("px")[2]))
+    }
+  }else{
+    final
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/man/forester.Rd b/man/forester.Rd
index eddf363..ada6ed6 100644
--- a/man/forester.Rd
+++ b/man/forester.Rd
@@ -16,14 +16,14 @@ forester(
   file_path = here::here("forester_plot.png"),
   dpi = 600,
   display = TRUE,
-  blank_na = TRUE,
   font_family = "mono",
   estimate_col_name = "Estimate",
   stripe_colour = "#eff3f2",
+  background_colour = "white",
   x_scale_linear = TRUE,
   xlim = NULL,
   xbreaks = NULL,
-  nudge_y = NULL,
+  nudge_y = 0,
   nudge_x = 1,
   arrows = FALSE,
   arrow_labels = c("Lower", "Higher"),
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ forester(
   add_plot_gap = FALSE,
   point_sizes = 3,
   point_shapes = 16,
-  center_ggplot = NULL
+  center_ggplot = NULL,
+  lower_header_row = FALSE,
+  render_as = "image"
 )
 }
 \arguments{
@@ -58,8 +60,6 @@ forester(
 
 \item{display}{Logical. Show the table in RStudio viewer? Default TRUE. If you're using forester inside of RMarkdown, change to false and display the generated images using standard markdown syntax (See file_path).}
 
-\item{blank_na}{Logical. Should missing values in the left side table be displayed as blank? Default TRUE, if FALSE, NA values will be shown}
-
 \item{font_family}{String. The font to use for the ggplot and table. Default "mono".}
 
 \item{estimate_col_name}{String. The name for the generated estimate column. Default "Estimate"}
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ forester(
 \item{point_shapes}{Vector. Length should be equal to 1 or nrow(left_side_data). The shapes of the points in the center plot, where 16 (a filled circle) is the default.}
 
 \item{center_ggplot}{A ggplot object to use instead of the central plot.}
+
+\item{render_as}{What output format should be used? Default is "image", the only other option currently is "rmarkdown".}
+
+\item{blank_na}{Logical. Should missing values in the left side table be displayed as blank? Default TRUE, if FALSE, NA values will be shown}
 }
 \value{
 image