I've been working on the theme for the following site: http://www.purpletapepedigree.com/

I was wondering if it was possible to set a background image in the area where there is a grey background. And if so, how would I set a repeating background?

Any help would be appreciated.

you set the page background at ato->Body, Text & Links->Body Style using the 'background' selector. A good place to read about the selector and what options it has is at http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_background.asp

Thanks, I'll look into that link when I'm at my home computer.

Also it seems that the first image you see in the latest entry has a weird grey border at the top. Do you see that?

For the other images posted in blog entries that were hosted elsewhere (tinypic etc.) this does not show up, but this image with the grey border was uploaded using Wordpress' Media Library tool. Do you know where to edit this setting as well -- to remove all borders from images uploaded through the media library?

are you using any plugins that may be causing this (simple test, deactivate all plugins and take a look)

I'll try to disable the plug ins and check again.

However, I'm still having trouble adding the background image properly. I'm attempting to add this image ( http://i51.tinypic.com/2empirr.gif ) repeatedly in the area that's currently grey (so that it's around the white center column containing the posts).

When I go to "ato->Body, Text & Links->Body Style" and add the background URL code it goes into the area that's white, where the post's copy is, instead of around it. Am I in the wrong the section?

please do an export of your settings and attach it as a reply - with the image where it messes up.
When I add an image in ato->Body, Text & Links->Body Style, it shows as the background. Note it will show thru the center area if the center area is transparent...

Attached is the screenshot of the issue and the exported settings text document.

You'll see the pattern background is in the center column of the posts. I'd like the center column section to be white and the pattern to be in the area that is grey around the center column.

ato->Style & edit CENTER COLUMN->Center column style add background: #ffffff;

Hmm. Still not what I was going for ... here's how it looks now: http://i54.tinypic.com/15fhdsp.png

Is there no way to edit the grey background?

the grey is from the setting at ato->Body, Text & Links->Body Style where you have

background:#ddd;

DDD is grey, if you want white, change it to FFF (or FFFFFF)

Got it to work.

http://www.purpletapepedigree.com/

This was the look I was going for. Thanks for the help and tips.