With brush in hand, Lizzy Deas may not look like your normal painter and decorator.In fact, the slight 22-year-old has overcome an obstacle that most painters and decorators would never have to face in setting up a business - recovering from a violent relationship.

With brush in hand, Lizzy Deas may not look like your normal painter and decorator.

In fact, the slight 22-year-old has overcome an obstacle that most painters and decorators would never have to face in setting up a business - recovering from a violent relationship.

And Miss Deas has used her experiences of living with domestic violence to set up her own Great Yarmouth business - Bizzilizzies.

Miss Deas has aimed Bizzilizzies at women who may feel uncomfortable at having a male painter and decorator working in or outside their homes.

In setting up her own business, the mother of 20-month-old son Cyrus has also proved an inspiration to other women who have suffered at the hands of abusive partners.

While she was at a women's refuge in Ipswich earlier this year, Miss Deas arranged for business support grants and advice from enterpriseGY to set up Bizzilizzies after she had trained at Yarmouth College.

And now Miss Deas is waiting for a call from her potential first female customer from Yarmouth, or the surrounding area, to ask if she can paint, put up wallpaper and put in skirting boards.

She discovered her love of painting and decorating while she was in foster care when she was younger.

Miss Deas, who moved to Yarmouth 11 years ago and split from her partner this time last year, said: “I have always enjoyed painting and decorating. I just find it very relaxing - although it is not nice to work outside in the cold.

“Bizzilizzies is for women who may have been in the same position I have been in, or who do not feel totally comfortable about having workmen in their home.

“From research I think there are enough women out there who would like to be put at ease from using Bizzilizzies. No job is too small for me.”

Miss Deas said that she would also do painting and decorating jobs for male customers.

She said: “When I was at college, some of the male students said that girls should not be there studying painting and decorating at all, but that is just nonsense.”

Anyone wanting to book Bizzilizies for a job can call Miss Deas on 07743 392925.