Interior designer Joe Burke and his partner, architect Mark Smith, reconfirmed their intent to sell their grand Tuscan estate on RM 2222.

The four-story, 4,935-square-foot Lake Austin house has been their home and office since it was built in 1981.

Last fall they listed it themselves for $5.8 million. In July, they sought the help of real estate agent Will Steakley of Urbanspace Realtors and relisted the house for $3,795,000.

The couple expects to move downtown once the four-bedroom, 41\/2-bathroon house sells. They are looking at buildings including the Austonian that will allow them to continue to live upstairs from where they work.

"It's almost hard to give it up since we've been here so long," says Joe Burke.

"We just want to go downtown," says Mark Smith.

Visitors enter the 4,935-square-foot castle by crossing the drawbridge and xeriscaped moat into the second floor. Burke and Smith make note of the front doors they say they salvaged from the Littlefield home downtown; the foyer's cherry, oak, walnut and pecan flooring came from a village in Italy.

In the living room, the gold-stained, double flint glass chandelier was made in 1837 for the Andrew Jackson White House, according to the couple's research. Burke and Smith found it in at an antique shop in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. That same trip they also brought home an 1817 ruby-stained, double flint glass chandelier that they say hung in the James Monroe White House. Today that chandelier is in the third-story dining area. Both chandeliers convey with the house.

The couple's love of glass art also can be seen in the second-floor dining room's glass sconces that once hung in a home they were working on for Gov. John and Nellie Connally. Another chandelier in the house is an 1880s Waterford gasolier.

Burke and Smith use the second floor as the showroom for the Design Center. The 1,500-square-foot bottom level serves as working offices and storage, but it was originally designed as two apartments with separate bathrooms. The plumbing for two kitchens is in place.

The home's third and fourth floors are the couple's private retreat. The granite-countered kitchen takes in the view of the surrounding hills and the treetops above Lake Austin. The dining area flows into an open living area/bedroom, which leads to the closet room. Built-in drawers line one wall perpendicular to dual walk-in closets.

The fourth floor serves as a guest bedroom and exercise room. It leads out onto a rooftop garden and seating area with a fireplace. The couple has held parties, complete with a band, in this space.

As grand as the house is, Smith's favorite part of the property is the 124-step pathway leading to the boat dock. The side of the hill is rich with flora including wild maidenhair ferns and cypress trees. When not in a drought, waterfalls flow from the cliff.

The 60-foot boat dock with two slips and a power lift is situated on a deep finger of Lake Austin near Bull Creek.

The property also has two storage spaces, one of which is air-conditioned, and a two-car garage.

The right buyer will probably use the property much the way Burke and Smith use it: part home, part office.

"I see it as an individual who is looking for that commercial component," Steakley says. "It might not be a full-time residence. They might have a place in the Hill Country but also want a place in town to do business."