I'll go with Brickeyee's method...quicker, faster, easier. Most of all its the better one. Use a proper carpenter's knife or a lino knife to cut along the bottom and top then use a drywall saw to come down each stud. (buy a couple or three drywall saws, you will need them) You only have to smack out the tiles that are in the way of the up/down cuts. Less broken tile bits flying about, the better. (I'm assuming you don't have power tools...me, I'd tape/cover/protect the counter top, etc*. and use a recip saw with short blades...those blades will have Demo stamped or marked on them, wood blades won't work very long)((Actually the Demo blades may not either, depends on if its mastic or thinset right now)) I'll also back up his suggestion to lay ply or at least hardboard on the counter tops. *I'd also bag the upper cabs, paper the lowers and use a movable sheet of ply or board right under where I was actively smacking tile, lean this up against the lower cab faces, between you and the cabinets. I'd have the floor covered with paper and mover blankets in that order at the least. Then a sheet and a half of cement board re-installed where the drywall used to be, set your electrical boxes back in, thin set, tile, grout, caulk, done. Going over the old drywall is not a long term fix. Two day affair and that only to allow the thinset to set up overnight. If you spring for modified thinset with accelerated dry time you could do it in a long day. I know mastic works but I use thinset anywhere water is present. Even a backsplash.

They are not "nice". I guess that's not fair but have thick skin if you go over there. I wanted to hear some thoughts on a subject once and posted more a a top starter with a short opinion from me, but did say I will not get into a debate, just wanted some insight/opinions from different people. A few of the more long winded posters cut me down about not wanting to get into a debate, said I should not come to hot topics if I don't want to debate...Yuck.

I don't consider anything after 1940'ish to qualify as an old house. And a house built after 1940 is 75 years old and a house built in 1965 is 50 years old. Not considering something of this age worth discussing, or thinking that something 50-75 years old is open game for gut renovation every time because it's not old is exactly the mentality that ruined so many Victorian and Edwardian houses in the 1950s. I don't believe every house has to be maintained as a time capsule. I dont believe any house really is ever a complete time capsule unless it's a museum. But there has to be a point when one asks oneself why XYZ is not worth saving and needs to be replaced with whatever is current no matter how bad it looks in the house. (And people don't think it's bad until later and its not the latest thing any more). There are enough options out there that a new kitchen or bath could look completely compatible with almost any age of house, without necessarily trying to be a period recreation, and without breaking the bank. Daltile ceramic or porcelain tiles in basic sizes cover the bases for practically any period of bathroom from after about 1920 and if you are okay with non rectified subway, you can do a compatible bath from before 1920. The Old House forum should at the very least support those who want to restore and renovate compatibly with their older houses instead of leaving them to the vagaries of fashion in the general Kitchen and Bath forums. I don't think this necessarily has to be a forum for complete purists--I don't think it is now, but apparently some people do (?). Many people may beg to differ but I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to maintain or recreate something from as recently as the 1980s. There is really nothing "wrong" with some of it, Late- and Post-Modernism can be kind of interesting. It's just that most people hate with with the same knee jerk reaction that they hate anything that they think is too old Not to hate and too new to not look back on as just another period in design history.

I really don't know what "old world" even means-- whatever it is-- I'm just trying to figure out how to make my house look nice with the textured walls it has. The current owners have done nothing to make it look stylish, and my eye for design is weak. Nearly everything I can find online has smooth walls, and Pinterest shows beautiful homes that aren't so realistic. There must be a way to keep the walls is and still have the place look modern* *not modern like farmhouse vibe, but just that the house looks updated and fresh instead of what it currently looks like.