A few pointers on setting up svn repository/project through dreamhost.
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/index.html
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Subversion

mkdir tmpDir
cd tmpDir
mkdir -p project-name/branches project-name/tags project-name/trunk
svn import . file:///[REPO DIR] –message ‘Initial repository layout’

if using eclipse to do initial commit, don’t create trunk directory in the above step. subclipse requires to enter directory that does not already exist in the repository when initially sharing a team project.

if using maven based project with eclipse, run

mvn clean

before committing files so you can add svn:ignore props for target directory