hen Loretta Forer created an "island look" in an interior space in North Miami Beach, it was true to her vision. Like fine, old island homes around the world, it was atrnospheric and inviting.

In keeping with the tropical theme, bright light coolly filters through framed bamboo window coverings. Dark-wood furnishings, many of which are antiques, reflect exotic backgrounds from such faraway places as Indonesia, India, Morocco and Bali. Fabrics, though minimally used, are also spiced with island flavor. Cross-cut saturnia marble flooring gleams in certain areas, "reads" dull in others, hinting of years of a mysterious past life. And the walls, reminiscent of old European and British Colonial homes, bring to mind pentimento through multiple layers of richly colored paint.

Everything about the place is personal, sending a warm, welcoming message to guests who enter. Yet, as homelike as this environment is, it is equally unorthodox. For while the space appears to be a Great Room in a remote island home, it is actually the interior of Oceanmark Bank.

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