How to Make a Tumblr Background Image Repeat

Using a repeating image for your Tumblr background often makes your blog more interesting and eye-catching. If your theme doesn't have a tiling option, you can make your image repeat in one of two ways. The easiest method is to add a single line of code to your blog's custom CSS field. This entry overrides your theme and creates a tiled background. You can also edit your theme directly to make the change. In either case, you must start with a background image small enough for tiling -- Tumblr won't automatically reduce large images for tiling.

The Easy Fix

Sign in to Tumblr and click "Customize" on your dashboard to access your theme settings.

Click "Advanced Options" at the bottom of the Customize pane, and enter the following line of code to the Add Custom CSS field:

body {background-repeat:repeat;}

Click "Save," click the back arrow, and then click "Exit" to return to your dashboard.

The Harder Method

Click "Customize" on your dashboard, and then click "Edit HTML" to open your theme's HTML code. This code controls the layout and appearance of your blog.

Go to the beginning of the style sheet section of code. You can find the start of the style sheet by pressing "Ctrl-F" and searching for "<style type="text/css">" (without the outside quotes).

Find the first line of code that looks similar to either one of these examples (the line in your theme may look slightly different):

background-repeat: no-repeat; background: url('{image:Background}') no-repeat;

Replace "no-repeat" with "repeat".

Click "Update Preview" to see if the change worked. If you see a tiled background in the preview screen, click "Save." Otherwise, undo the change and try again on the next line that includes the "no-repeat" attribute.