Yarbro Home Improvement LLC 1941 and no improvements, probably lath & plaster. If its drywall ( hopefully ) remove the tile and drywall. A sheet of drywall is 4' wide and your tile goes 3' up the wall. My opinion, you'll get a better finished product rather then just " skim coating" if you were in fact going to try and salvage the drywall. Make a cut all the way through the drywall using what appears to be a cap molding as a straight edge. You may find that there is another type of material behind the slate. Whoever installed it may have removed the drywall or plaster and installed plywood, cement board or some other type of tile backer. This is going to take some investigation on your part. Once you've done that, get back to us. Good luck

soberg That tile was really a misfire on the previous owner's part, sorry to say. Looking on the bright side, it's possible that they also did a "homeowner" type job of installation and the tiles may not be too firmly bedded. I'd start prying in the least conspicuous area to see exactly how they are attached, how much force it takes to get them off, whether they break off cleanly, and what kind of surface you have underneath.

As a fallback, you could consider wood panelling a wainscot over the tile and painting it to match the walls. Or even anaglypta paper on top of the tiles, painted, would be a big step forward and fairly quick and easy to do.

libradesigneye With those ceilings you appear to have a typical bungalow, so don't worry about the damage to the walls for removing the tile, you can add some board and batten panelling (just 4 x faced ply sheets and chamfered 2x4s up to 6' or so - great looking coved ceilings and trim - paint out ceiling a pale blue, and a soft ecru above the board and batten panelling, paint it soft glossy white like the trim at the ceiling line. Something like this tutorial shows you how - it fits your house style http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/01/basic-board-and-batten/

Gretchen Maurer I agree paint is a quick fix and the texture would be great. the floors are beautiful

Dean South First thing to do is to find the previous owners, grab them by the collar and ask 'WHAT WERE YOU THINKING"? Good luck with your project. Priming and painting the tiles alone would be a huge, but temporary improvement.

CMR Interiors & Design Consultations Inc. The walls look too perfect to be plaster. You should be able to tell by knocking on them whether they are plaster or not. I believe them to be drywall.

hockey456 Beautiful floors. I can't help but wonder if they were trying to cover something up by tiling the walls. You could do a craftsman style room if you end up stuck with the tile.

suburbandecorista You could cover over the tile with beadboard panelling..... But, honestly, I would remove the wooden trim and use a drywall saw to cut out the wall where the tile is, replace with drywall. Do it now before you move in..... I would say that the gorgeous floors could make up for this tile-on-wall-blunder!!!

howatan I agree with Soberg. If I were in your shoes (depending on how long you want to keep the house) I'd build out painted wood panelling to the chair rail height and rebuild the shelving alcove to match it. You could also consider built in shelving in this area.The age of the house (the arched doorway) looks like this would make design sense. It looks like the floor is good and I would be worried about damage by demolishing and rebuilding the wall. There seems to be good light in the space. You could consider painting the panelling to match the walls and creating a more traditional English styled sitting room

inabunker I doubt that you would be able to remove the tile easily without damaging the walls. So, I would cut out the drywall with the tile and replace it with wainscotting. You can buy sheets of it and put a chair railing on top about the same height as the tile is now. Will look fab and fit in with the rest of the house's charm.

Norm Walters Construction Inc. If the tiles were put on with mastic you could remove them without even breaking them, not a big fan of mastic for any installation, but in this case I would try to remove one and see what happens.

Jayme Hobbs You could cover it with a wainscoting if u like that look.

Fiorano Tile Showrooms All right, I will admit in this case, that MAYBE this was not a place to put TILE :) Good luck with removing..the sheetrock will most likely get destroyed, but you need to do it.
(Fiorano Tile Showrooms)

Jayme Hobbs pics

stpaulkelly Hi! This was my first question on houzz and I REALLY, REALLY appreciate all your great responses! They are all things to definiely consider particularly because we were at a complete loss, because yes, they were NUTS to put tile on the wall!!! We will definitely be looking into and researching all of your suggestions.

Libra, no sadly, this is not a bungalow. I would've loved one of those, though!!!

Hockey: (go Wild!) I suspect they weren't hiding anything, they just had really bad taste. Ha! I think that because you should see how hog wild they went in the kitchen with tile!!! It's only slightly less offensive than the living room.

And if anyone happens to be in town and wants to help chisel and wainscot (or whatever), lemme know!

Thanks again!!

reed5 I vote for BEADBOARD. Leave it white or paint it a neutral color. Good luck.

cmungavin I simply can't imagine any possible reason for putting tile on of all things, a WALL! I vote to replace with wainscoting...and the sooner the better. If you happen to need a temporary fix, then paint it.

Jayme Hobbs I think the wainscoting would add interest and more charm to your already charming home...best wishes!

Ali Rahimi I think you can use thin plaster wall. cover the wall with prefabricated plaster (gatch) wall

apple_pie_order Now I am curious about the "hog wild" kitchen's tile.

rinqreation If it were the entire (bottom half of) the room, I'd paint it satin white, but this looks dreadful. Demolish it (first make a cut on the top, the drywall suggestions are great and will also do for old layers of paint)! Good luck!
Note: I've spent hours and hours chiseling off cement&glue, so I know the drill. Hope all goes well.

Nick Vanegmond seems to be plaster above the tile, my advice, just tile right over all of the plaster.

stpaulkelly Please see attached "hog wild" kitchen tile. Grrrr. In photo 1 we have THREE different kinds of tile and one of them goes all the way AROUND the door. In photo 2 we have yet a fourth type of tile AROUND the refrigerator. I'm telling you, these people got a deep discount at a tile shop and went nuts.

The living room is just the worst, though. So that's first on the agenda!

Rinqcreation: Good to know you have experience, I may hit you up for chiseling advice!
Nick: Har har, tile the rest of the wall...

Thanks again for all your help! I think you've given us a good basis on where to start and some really great ideas to try. I also notice no one offered to come over and help. :-p

Jayme Hobbs It would be nice for you if you could make the backsplash tile work, and remove the rest.

kobley Are your cabinets re-faced with a different wood than the sides? The tile work is definitely different. As to your living room space. Is there a chance that the wall with the heating vent was added? The doorway is a different shape and I don't think they used vents like that in the 40"s. That wall may be drywall.

Stacey Rushing OMG...Honestly I have never EVER seen this much tile. What were they thinking. Do not be discouraged. Get a file and trash can and start to pry that crap off of your walls. Make sure you put down a drop cloth so that you do not damage your hardwood floors. I agree with everyone else about the board and batten bottom half of the room. Then you can start in the kitchen. The worst part is the first step. Not knowing how its going to go, but trust me anything is better than tile in the dinning room. Be brave and demo :)

Yarbro Home Improvement LLC EeeeeGads! ;)

handymam Getting my safety glasses and will be right over!! Oh wait, you haven't already finished have you?

You are right. The kitchen is hog wild.

stpaulkelly Jayme: I'm going to do just that. The backsplash isn't my fave, but it's not going to be the perfect house and that's okay. It'll work!

kobley: I hadn't noticed the different cabinets! We haven't moved in yet, so I've only spent a little time there so far. And yes, that wall was added later and you know what? Maybe we could get the rounded doorway someday. That would be nice!

Stacey: I know, right?? I'm scared, though...

Yarbro: AGREED!

handmam: No, ma'am, come on over! Hehe.

So, I'm going to chisel this junk off? Just a chisel? No fancy mastic removers?? I'll let you know how it goes!!

Thanks houzzers!

handymam Put the coffee on! And some cake wouldn't hurt either, lol.

If it is tile and not slate, (it looks like slate to me) maybe a hammer and banging on it might help break into it and then you can pry it off by sliding something like a putty knife under it.

Just think what a pro you will be by the time you are ready to start the kitchen! Good luck!

Jayme Hobbs You have a lot of sense! I like that! Really, it is a charming home, good luck to you!

rod handler Agreed: First paint it (and all the wood cabinets and shelves, and the wood trim) the same color as the walls. It might look good enough that you decide you can live with it.
Also consider: the stone tiles could have been applied to hide some sort of bigger problem that you may not want to deal with. They also may have cut slices out of the wall to install more outlets.
You can easily tell if the wall is plaster or drywall by tapping on it. Plaster has a much "harder" sound. If you're still in doubt, drive in a nail or screw, see if it chips or cracks.

ltllefty I have no words...

Genevieve tiles can be removed by using a pair of safety glasses a chisel and a hammer then repair the walls

MHA Home Services We are restoration contractors and from time to time run across strange things that home owners do. In your case strange is a relative term. If the walls are drywall make a cut with a reciprocal saw all the way through the sheet rock and pull the whole sheet down one section at a time. If the walls are plaster a good brick chisel will probably separate the plaster and stone. One removed replace the sheet rock tape and finish to match the remainder of the wall. If plaster, hire a good plaster professional and let a pro fix the finish. It's a messy job no matter what but the leaving the stone is kinda of mess to. Good luck with your project.

Urbana ~ Designer Ellen Crystal maybe they had a portable recreational hot tub in there! Just kidding. take out & as suggested a nice wainscot in it's place. will add character & be cleaner reno than dry-walling. Just think about proportion. don't cut the room in 1/2. Aim for a 1/3 2/3 proportion

Oh and continue perimeter of the room. Have a decorative cabinet made or if salvageable paint the existing