Before tearing up, try laying out a small section of tile in the house and walk by it for a couple days. See it in all the different lighting conditions.

When you remove the linoleum/vinyl, take up the underlayment that it's surely attached to. Pound down the fasteners... you don't have to sand the subfloor, but do screw it off to the joists. The TCA would have you install plywood to bring the total thickness to 1-1/8". That underlayment looks like the Custom branded product that HD sells - use thinset that's just a little on the damp side to lay it and have some loose boards handy to hold down the ends until it sets, as they tend to curl up. Apply two coats of sealer to the face of your stone before laying, as it's near impossible to get bonded thinset off slate. Do a tidy job undercutting casings, and use a straightedge to get the face of the stone relatively flush along the walls, or your baseboards will be a challenge.

Do you have a wet saw? Have you ever participated in laying out, cutting, and laying natural stone?

As "tile" jobs go, natural slate can be among the most difficult.

Best wishes.

Tip from somebody who didn't: Check how straight your walls and corners are.

I had a bathroom where one wall was off (I didn't make the wall) and while it wasn't obvious normally it was very much so when compared against the straight runs of tile

I ended up ripping out my first tile job and re-doing it with the tiles rotated 45 degrees (points towards the wall instead, which looked much better

Side note. Natural slate comes with a lot of maintenance. Frequent sealing and it will flake and chip. It can also have very uneven edges leading to misaligned joints.

If this is your first time tiling- do a small bathroom w some inexpensive tile first. Practice on a less critical room.

Don't use plywood, use cement board. It's waterproof and much sturdier. Also highly recommend you invest in a good tile levelling system. It's worth every penny

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