How to make large map

I want to make a really simple old-school RPG with a large map where you can walk in front of some items and behind others. There will also be things to pick up like treasure chests and their will be doors that, when you touch them, take you to a new map (inside of a house, in a cave, etc)

Since it's a large map with lots of repeating images, i figured a tilelayer would be the best bet, but the entire tilelayer is on one layer, so you can't walk in front of some things and behind others. Also, you can't stack two items on top of each other, like a treasure chest on grass

So i considered making three tile layers - one background, one foreground and one for items. My question - is this a dumb idea? For some reason it feels hackish but i can't actually think of a reason why this would be bad, other than possible difficulties in keeping them in synch and editing them when they're stacked on top of each other