Drywall is an acceptable base for wall tiles, as long as it's in good shape, with no holes, cracks or soft areas. The one issue you might run into when tiling drywall, though, is getting the tiles to adhere properly. If the drywall is painted, and the paint is high-gloss, semi-gloss or any other material that has some slickness to it, you could have problems. De-glossing the wall with a vibrating sander will help solve it.
Instructions
1. Sand the whole wall with your vibrating sander and medium sandpaper, dulling the paint. Sand it just enough that the surface doesn't brightly reflect light from any angle.
2. Draw a vertical line up the middle of the wall with a tape measure, level and pencil. Make sure the line is plumb (straight up and down) according to your level.
3. Draw a horizontal line along the lower part of the wall with your tape measure, level and pencil, up from the floor by the height of a tile plus 1/4 inch. Make sure the line is level.
4. Apply tile mortar along the bottom portion with a notched mortar trowel, covering the horizontal line (you will be able to still see it through mortar).
5. Press tiles in place, starting at the intersection of the lines. Set the tops of the tiles even with the horizontal line, and the sides even with the vertical line. Put spacers between them.
6. Hang the whole bottom row, building toward the edges along the horizontal line. Apply more adhesive on the wall and start building upward in a grid pattern, using the vertical line as the starting point for each row. Put spacers between all the tiles. Cut the tiles at the ends if necessary, using a tile cutter. Let the tiles set overnight and remove the spacers.
7. Spread grout on the wall with a grout float, starting at the top and working down. Force the grout into the spaces of the tiles, then remove the excess grout with a damp sponge.
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