Sorry-- I just saw this post. Take your aggressions out with a hammer. I think you'll find the tile comes up pretty easily, especially if this is directly over a single layer of plywood. In fact, I'd like to know how it's stayed down for ANY length of time if it's a single layer. The thing that may be tough will be the thinset. But I've got plenty of ideas for that, as well. Take the tile up first, though, and once the tile's up, we'll have a better idea of what's going on underneath, and I can better advise you on how to proceed. Four cautions, though. First remove any breakable objects from the area. Second, wear safety glasses. Third wear a long sleeve shirt. Preferrably a heavy one, like flannel or chamois. And lastly, wear gloves. The reason for these precautions are that when you start smashing the tile, pieces are going to go flying. I've been known in the past to not worry about the longsleeve shirt part, and end up needing a stitch or two (well, I SHOULD have gotten em). (thin pieces of duct tape make great butterflies!) :-)

Progress: And 1 inch of what may have been the original 1887 wallpaper. I like the green: I ended up using the circular saw to make grid cuts 12-18" apart. I used the multi tool to make cuts closer to the wall and corners where the circular saw couldn't clear. I tried different methods to pry the sections off; some were too narrow; some had too much flex. A 5" wide blade, hammered in and then pried down, did most of the work. Where the ceiling met the wall, I did a combination of breaking the paint and skim coat with a putty knife hammered upwards, and just cutting around with a multitool. There was only about a 1/8" thick bond to break through so it came away, thankfully, easily. I'd say it was altogether 10 hours in a 6 x 8 room to get this far--crazy! I definitely won't be doing the rest of the house. In most other rooms I plan to knock off the flecky balls and skim coat the ridged scallops, like Worthy suggests. In the double parlor, which has crown molding, I'll go through this routine. It's a great upper body workout! Some of the original ceiling is loose, so I'll be putting in some plaster washer anchors. You can also see where they poked holes to verify the location of studs. Those and the cracks will get fiberglass tape and patched. A little skimming, a little sanding, a little paint, and she'll be done. Of course, before all that, I'll do a thorough scrub down with tsp and water, then rinse, dry, and coat with benjamin moore calcimine recoater. Then plaster bonding agent to all the damaged places, and then fiberglass tape, patch/fill with durabond, knock down with a putty knife, then easy sand, then sanding, priming, and finally paint. What could be easier?!? Hope everybody else is having as much fun as I am this weekend! And yes, I'm saving a sample of the wallpaper for the house book.

Hey Sdello, thanks for weighting in and the advise. The wallpaper isn't in great shape in spots which is kind of the reason I started going down this road. It is starting to peel in some of the seams and corners so it might not be too bad to remove. I think peeling it off might be helpful, but I know that the drywall was nailed up and not screwed. In light of that, do you think it would still be advantageous to expose the nails and try and work them out? Thanks again for your thoughts and help. This isn't my area of expertise so I appreciate your help.

The glue they use to adhere the top to the cabinet is stronger joint than what is there in the top construction. Simply buy a demo crow bar and hammer it in between the blocks and counter NOT the block and the cabinet. It will easily break free. Particle board is weak and will splinter into pieces. If you have a saw you can cut out the center of the counter giving better access to the blocks. Also you would be separating smaller sections. Fix your valve you can flood your entire home.