##############################
place this as your app templates/admin/index.html
######Start snip################
{% extends "admin/base_site.html" %}
{% load i18n %}

{% block stylesheet %}{% load adminmedia %}{% admin_media_prefix %}css/dashboard.css{% endblock %}

{% block extrastyle %}
<style type="text/css">
/* Twin column Django admin layout */
#content-main {
    width: 400px;
}
#content-secondary {
    float: right;
    width: 400px;
    position: relative;
    margin-right: -410px;
}
#content-related {
    width: 215px;
    margin-right: -635px;
}
.dashboard #content {
    width: 400px;
}
</style>
{% endblock %}


{% block coltype %}colMS{% endblock %}
{% block bodyclass %}dashboard{% endblock %}
{% block breadcrumbs %}{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<div id="content-main">

{% load column_adminapplist %}
{% get_admin_app_list as app_list %}
{% if app_list %}
    {% for app in app_list %}
        {% ifequal app.column 1 %}
            <div class="module">
            <table summary="{% blocktrans with app.name as name %}Models available in the {{ name }} application.{% endblocktrans %}">
            <caption>{% blocktrans with app.name as name %}{{ name }}{% endblocktrans %}</caption>
            {% for model in app.models %}
                <tr>
                {% if model.perms.change %}
                    <th scope="row"><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}">{{ model.name }}</a></th>
                {% else %}
                    <th scope="row">{{ model.name }}</th>
                {% endif %}
    
                {% if model.perms.add %}
                    <td><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}add/" class="addlink">{% trans 'Add' %}</a></td>
                {% else %}
                    <td>&nbsp;</td>
                {% endif %}
    
                {% if model.perms.change %}
                    <td><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}" class="changelink">{% trans 'Change' %}</a></td>
                {% else %}
                    <td>&nbsp;</td>
                {% endif %}
                </tr>
            {% endfor %}
            </table>
            </div>
        {% endifequal %}
    {% endfor %}
{% else %}
    <p>{% trans "You don't have permission to edit anything." %}</p>
{% endif %}
</div>



<div id="content-secondary">
{% if app_list %}
    {% for app in app_list %}
        {% ifequal app.column 2 %}
            <div class="module">
            <table summary="{% blocktrans with app.name as name %}Models available in the {{ name }} application.{% endblocktrans %}">
            <caption>{% blocktrans with app.name as name %}{{ name }}{% endblocktrans %}</caption>
            {% for model in app.models %}
                <tr>
                {% if model.perms.change %}
                    <th scope="row"><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}">{{ model.name }}</a></th>
                {% else %}
                    <th scope="row">{{ model.name }}</th>
                {% endif %}
    
                {% if model.perms.add %}
                    <td><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}add/" class="addlink">{% trans 'Add' %}</a></td>
                {% else %}
                    <td>&nbsp;</td>
                {% endif %}
    
                {% if model.perms.change %}
                    <td><a href="{{ model.admin_url }}" class="changelink">{% trans 'Change' %}</a></td>
                {% else %}
                    <td>&nbsp;</td>
                {% endif %}
                </tr>
            {% endfor %}
            </table>
            </div>
        {% endifequal %}
    {% endfor %}
{% else %}
    <p>{% trans "You don't have permission to edit anything." %}</p>
{% endif %}
</div>
{% endblock %}

{% block sidebar %}
<div id="content-related">
    <div class="module" id="recent-actions-module">
        <h2>{% trans 'Recent Actions' %}</h2>
        <h3>{% trans 'My Actions' %}</h3>
            {% load log %}
            {% get_admin_log 10 as admin_log for_user user %}
            {% if not admin_log %}
            <p>{% trans 'None available' %}</p>
            {% else %}
            <ul class="actionlist">
            {% for entry in admin_log %}
            <li class="{% if entry.is_addition %}addlink{% endif %}{% if entry.is_change %}changelink{% endif %}
              {% if entry.is_deletion %}deletelink{% endif %}">{% if not entry.is_deletion %}<a href="{{ entry.get_admin_url }}">{% endif %}
              {{ entry.object_repr|escape }}{% if not entry.is_deletion %}</a>{% endif %}<br /><span class="mini quiet">
              {% filter capfirst %}{% trans entry.content_type.name %}{% endfilter %}</span></li>
            {% endfor %}
            </ul>
            {% endif %}
    </div>
</div>
{% endblock %}
######End snip##################
end of templates/admin/index.html
##############################


##############################
The next code is for a custom adminapplist.py
Copy django/contrib/admin/templatetags/adminapplist.py 
to your app/templatetags/ directory as column_adminapplist.py
and edit in two places as below:
##############################
# After   has_module_perms = user.has_module_perms(app_label)
# Before  if has_module_perms:
# Paste these four lines into the context (indenting them appropriately):
if hasattr(app, '_admin_index_column'):
    index_column = app._admin_index_column
else:
    index_column = 1
# And in app_list.append({<stuff>}) add
'column': index_column,
# to the dict options.