You’d need to do some theme coding and css styling for this. An easier option would be to use a theme that already has a horizontal sidebar.
the solution may depend on your theme. for my theme, if all the info was on every page,
1) i would build something to accommodate the info under my masthead in header.php. the structure would be div=class that is as wide as my masthead.
2) in functions.php then register a new “Sidebar_horizontal” so you could utilize the widget feature for more recent/popular etc.
3) in admin > appearance > widgets select your “new” sidebar-horizontal from the sidebar drop menu
4) add otto’s exec-php plugin = http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/php-code-widget/ where you can put in html, php, images, etc.
the above is the ” concept ” i’d try first to take advantage of the widgets.
a good link to get you started for layout = http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Layout_and_Design
for moving things around = http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Advanced_Topics