On the corner of Donkerstraat and Petegemstraat there is a woodworking company. It was already there when Raveel lived in Petegemstraat.

In the first fifteen years of his career, Roger could barely afford expensive canvases. Many of the paintings he made between 1940 and 1955 were therefore painted on hardboard, a recycled type of wood that he bought cheaply from this sawmill. Especially in the early years, the formats were often small.

In those years, Machelen was a very lively village with a lot of activity. The radius of action of the villagers in Raveel's time was much smaller than it is today; they found almost everything they needed in the village.

Many Machelen residents grew fruit and vegetables for their own consumption in their vegetable gardens or “lochting”, ate eggs from their own chickens and raised rabbits for meat. Beef was still a luxury product at the time and was rarely served.

The industriousness and simplicity of life in his village provided Raveel with a great deal of inspiration early on in the development of his oeuvre.