When I built my custom terrain for home games, I opted for a mix of form and function.
My hills are roughly 1.25" tall, so they are easy to balance models on. The tops are flat and the slopes are steep to facilitate easy model placement. However, they are fully textured and even feature dwarfve ruins in some of the sides.
All difficult terrain has a base with removable “slices” or terrain from the top. I try and return trees and statues to their place once moved.
My obstacles are all magnetized to the bases so that when a unit is about to step onto it, you can remove the wall itself and use the base.
I’ll try and get some photos at some point to share, but they were really easy to do with minimal effort.