+7  A: 

Changing the backgroundColor on the tableView should work

tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"image.png"]];
nduplessis
Great thx! I made the background solid red but had no idea that it was possible to create a "color" from an image!
John Lane
Yip, colorWithPatternImage is a great feature :)
nduplessis
you have missed colon(:) in your answer
Rahul Vyas
the method should betableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"image.png"]];
Rahul Vyas
Thanks, fixed it
nduplessis
A: 

when i do this, i loose the custom color of the cell itself... any ideas?

A: 

Changing tableView.backgroundColor doesn't work for me, does it require using a UITableViewController?

ctpenrose