Jimi Hendrix and his girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, moved into 23 Brook St., Mayfair in June 1968. The flat was unfurnished, and neither Hendrix nor Etchingham possessed any furniture or soft furnishings of their own having lived in either hotels or furnished accommodation to date. Etchingham felt that furnishing the flat should be a joint effort, and when Hendrix returned to London from America in July, she booked rooms for them both in the Londonderry Hotel in Park Lane and...we set off to do a bit of shopping. We got a bed delivered and went to choose all the basics that we needed, which included turquoise velvet curtains and flame-coloured carpets - very unusual colours at the time. Jimi enjoyed choosing the colours and textures and discussing them with the sales staff. Other shoppers stopped and stared in amazement, not expecting to see Jimi Hendrix discussing patterns in the curtain department of John Lewis'... As can be seen in the photograph that accompanies this lot, this table was used as a bedside table in the flat.

The decoration and furnishing of the flat continued during Hendrix's absence whilst touring throughout the Autumn and Winter of 1968. On his arrival back in London in January 1969, he was delighted with the finished flat, telling Etchingham that ....This is my first real home of my own...