diff --git a/src/RichText.js b/src/RichText.js
index f2f2d533a8b..3cd0f5ec59a 100644
--- a/src/RichText.js
+++ b/src/RichText.js
@@ -113,31 +113,6 @@ let emojiDecorator = {
  * Returns a composite decorator which has access to provided scope.
  */
 export function getScopedRTDecorators(scope: any): CompositeDecorator {
-    let MemberAvatar = sdk.getComponent('avatars.MemberAvatar');
-
-    let usernameDecorator = {
-        strategy: (contentBlock, callback) => {
-            findWithRegex(USERNAME_REGEX, contentBlock, callback);
-        },
-        component: (props) => {
-            let member = scope.room.getMember(props.children[0].props.text);
-            // unused until we make these decorators immutable (autocomplete needed)
-            let name = member ? member.name : null;
-            let avatar = member ? <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16}/> : null;
-            return <span className="mx_UserPill">{avatar}{props.children}</span>;
-        }
-    };
-
-    let roomDecorator = {
-        strategy: (contentBlock, callback) => {
-            findWithRegex(ROOM_REGEX, contentBlock, callback);
-        },
-        component: (props) => {
-            return <span className="mx_RoomPill">{props.children}</span>;
-        }
-    };
-
-    // TODO Re-enable usernameDecorator and roomDecorator
     return [emojiDecorator];
 }
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
index 2c50a94a6a6..ab1d67a218c 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ import SdkConfig from '../../../SdkConfig';
 import dis from '../../../dispatcher';
 import { _t } from '../../../languageHandler';
 import UserSettingsStore from "../../../UserSettingsStore";
+import MatrixClientPeg from '../../../MatrixClientPeg';
+import {RoomMember} from 'matrix-js-sdk';
 
 linkifyMatrix(linkify);
 
@@ -80,6 +82,10 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
     componentDidMount: function() {
         this._unmounted = false;
 
+        // pillifyLinks BEFORE linkifyElement because plain room/user URLs in the composer
+        // are still sent as plaintext URLs. If these are ever pillified in the composer,
+        // we should be pillify them here by doing the linkifying BEFORE the pillifying.
+        this.pillifyLinks(this.refs.content.children);
         linkifyElement(this.refs.content, linkifyMatrix.options);
         this.calculateUrlPreview();
 
@@ -162,6 +168,55 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         }
     },
 
+    pillifyLinks: function(nodes) {
+        const MemberAvatar = sdk.getComponent('avatars.MemberAvatar');
+        const RoomAvatar = sdk.getComponent('avatars.RoomAvatar');
+        for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
+            const node = nodes[i];
+            if (node.tagName === "A" && node.getAttribute("href")) {
+                const href = node.getAttribute("href");
+                // HtmlUtils transforms `matrix.to` links to local links, so match against
+                // user or room app links.
+                const match = /^#\/(user|room)\/(.*)$/.exec(href) || [];
+                const resourceType = match[1]; // "user" or "room"
+                const resourceId = match[2]; // user ID or room ID
+                if (match && resourceType && resourceId) {
+                    let avatar;
+                    let roomId;
+                    let room;
+                    let member;
+                    switch (resourceType) {
+                        case "user":
+                            roomId = this.props.mxEvent.getRoomId();
+                            room = MatrixClientPeg.get().getRoom(roomId);
+                            member = room.getMember(resourceId) ||
+                                new RoomMember(null, resourceId);
+                            avatar = <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16} name={resourceId}/>;
+                        break;
+                        case "room":
+                            room = resourceId[0] === '#' ?
+                                MatrixClientPeg.get().getRooms().find((r) => {
+                                    return r.getCanonicalAlias() === resourceId;
+                                }) : MatrixClientPeg.get().getRoom(resourceId);
+                            if (room) {
+                                avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16}/>;
+                            }
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    if (avatar) {
+                        const avatarContainer = document.createElement('span');
+                        node.className = "mx_MTextBody_pill " +
+                            (resourceType === "user" ? "mx_UserPill" : "mx_RoomPill");
+                        ReactDOM.render(avatar, avatarContainer);
+                        node.insertBefore(avatarContainer, node.firstChild);
+                    }
+                }
+            } else if (node.children && node.children.length) {
+                this.pillifyLinks(node.children);
+            }
+        }
+    },
+
     findLinks: function(nodes) {
         var links = [];