But at the end of one of those circular streets, Peter and Tessa Greiner found what they were looking for.

Most people would baulk at the idea of buying a wedge-shaped, narrow block with a 14-metre fall to the south, so steep and rocky only trees have ever successfully made it home.

But for an experienced architectural designer, and a couple who built their own home before, none of those challenges were too difficult.

“We looked at blocks for a long time, and we also looked at old houses for a long time – nearly a year or so,” Mr Greiner said.

“These two blocks we’ve known about for a long time, but because they’re so incredibly steep and they’re facing the wrong way … nobody bought it for the last 30 years.”

Despite the hilly, rocky challenges, the hidden location and tall eucalypts reminded them of the home they were leaving behind on the North coast, a bush block full of peace.

Moving back to Launceston, the Greiners drew on all the 30 years experience Peter had of designing passive-solar, eco-friendly and welcoming homes.

The Greiners knew what they wanted for their own design – their final home, a place to relax, enjoy, and share, a place that would be their home for good.

“[The challenge] was just trying to fit what we wanted upstairs, and still get light in and still keep privacy,” Mr Greiner said.

The final design, two-level home of timber, steel and glass, is specifically created to be completely self-sufficient on both levels. Bathroom and kitchen downstairs with a small curving stairwell to a closed door keeps both levels independent.

And in a cupboard upstairs lies the opportunity to install a lift to a corresponding cupboard downstairs, addressing a potential future need.

It all means as the Greiners look forward to a perhaps less-mobile future, they can welcome carers into their home –  a home they have no intention of leaving.

“We’re not moving out of here,” Mrs Greiner said.

“I’m a retired nurse so I know what people need when they get older to stay in their own home.”

For a house built in one of Launceston’s most crowded suburbs, the Greiners more than succeeded using light – high windows close to the ceiling mean sunshine pours in all day, without the typical suburban indignity of staring into your neighbours’ home.

Carefully-situated windows to the east and south in the kitchen and living area offer tree-top views with glimpses of the Tamar River and Launceston beyond.

A large glass door opening to a private verandah provides the illusion the house is bigger than it really is. It is, in fact, quite a small house, with brilliant design projecting a feeling of comfort and space.

On Christmas Day last year, the Greiners moved into their new house after battling the challenging build: floods and weather went against them for several months.

They lived downstairs while the top level was completed, putting a little more pressure on the final build.

“We get a lot of people who walk past and stop and say they’ve been watching it, saying ‘oh, isn’t it taking long!’” Mr Greiner said.

But all the anxieties of construction are long gone, leaving the Greiners with a house that reflects all of their own architectural ethos: not just using natural light, but rejecting the concept of oversized living spaces for smaller, specific but flexible rooms.

A day room that can be converted into an office, a compact living room with a bright yellow feature wall and white bookshelf from floor to ceiling, a kitchen overlooking the river, and a bedroom that welcomes the sunrise, are all kept warm and cool by a simple system of air vents.

With a sliding cover to increase or decrease the amount of air brought in, the vent system allowed the Greiners to place the majority of the windows high in the walls.

“Even on a dark day, the house is still light, it’s really nice,” Mr Greiner said.

“It’s all double-glazing and we don’t need any curtains at all, we have no opening windows at all.

“You have much more control with vents than you do with windows, for ventilation.”

The combination of strategic vents and privacy-friendly windows mean each room feels completely private and welcoming, not claustrophobic but comfortable, elegant, and relaxing.

“We knew exactly what we wanted,” Mrs Greiner said, noting the repeated use of macrocarpa pine throughout offers a classic, warm feeling.

The garden tumbling down beneath the house is a rough mix of boulders and grass, a project for the future.

From below, at the south end of the steep block, the house rears up on tall stilts, the height and design protecting the living and kitchen areas from any inquisitive upward glances.

The house itself is a complicated layout, reflecting the wedge-shaped block by necessity, but also combining sweeping curves and straight lines to trick the eye into seeing height where it isn’t, and welcoming the outdoors to the indoor.

One section of roof had to be flat as it was the only north-facing section, allowing the placement of solar panels and the addition of high windows that pour more light into the hallway and bedroom.

“We’re thinking we could probably put [solar panels] on the east and the west rooves too,” Mrs Greiner said. The argument is that midday, when the sun is strongest over the north, is when people use electricity the least – having that collected power pumped straight back into the grid is a waste of energy.

Rather, placing the panels east and west allows for more power to be collected during the morning and evening power usage surges.

Down the small winding stairwell, the rooms are smaller but still the same comfortable combination of high windows and accessible air vents, with a door opening to a wide, level verandah protected by the upper level of the house.

Across the verandah, set deep into the steepest earth, is Mr Greiner’s own workshop, where he continues to design new models for homes across Tasmania, for a range of clients – from first homes for families to private holiday houses.

It’s clear this house was specifically, and successfully, created by two people who know what they need, now and into the future, without making too much of everything: too complicated, too expensive, or too big. Instead, they have a home of privacy, and light, making the most of the natural landscape.