.NET works well with SQL server. You can get SQL Express for free and put it on your computer and then write programs against it. If you know VBA the next step would be to download visual studio express also for free, and start writing VB.NET programs against the SQL Server database. Then you pick a User interface. There are a number of good ones. The easiest for simple programs is WinForms, but that is not as well liked in the market place anymore....

I build a nearly complete data model, including all tables and columns and then multiply the number of columns by 4 hours. Make that 3 hours if I am using a productivity enhancer like MVC 5 or Ruby on Rails. Make that 5 to 8 hours if there are unusual conditions which will add to the time. For example: COTS software will take longer. High bureaucracy environments will take longer. Detailed and functional testing harness development will take longer....

I tried to learn OO using a number of languages. The language that helped me the most was VB.NET. It tends to be verbose which can be annoying once you know what you are doing, however the verbosity helps in the process of learning. Whenever I need to catch back up in .NET, I take a VB.NET job which makes the new concepts easier to learn. Remember, BASIC stands for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.