diff --git a/decoder.go b/decoder.go
index 6a4bb76..d578b3a 100644
--- a/decoder.go
+++ b/decoder.go
@@ -323,9 +323,9 @@ func (d *decoder) decodeString(name string, raw ast.Node, result reflect.Value)
 	switch n.Type {
 	case ast.ValueTypeInt:
 		result.Set(reflect.ValueOf(
-			strconv.FormatInt(int64(n.Value.(int)), 10)))
+			strconv.FormatInt(int64(n.Value.(int)), 10)).Convert(result.Type()))
 	case ast.ValueTypeString:
-		result.Set(reflect.ValueOf(n.Value.(string)))
+		result.Set(reflect.ValueOf(n.Value.(string)).Convert(result.Type()))
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("%s: unknown type to string: %s", name, n.Type)
 	}
diff --git a/decoder_test.go b/decoder_test.go
index 1272511..9ea9621 100644
--- a/decoder_test.go
+++ b/decoder_test.go
@@ -188,9 +188,11 @@ func TestDecode_structureArray(t *testing.T) {
 	// This test is extracted from a failure in Consul (consul.io),
 	// hence the interesting structure naming.
 
+	type KeyPolicyType string
+
 	type KeyPolicy struct {
 		Prefix string `hcl:",key"`
-		Policy string
+		Policy KeyPolicyType
 	}
 
 	type Policy struct {